The Ocarina of Time PT III, The Hero of Time
by Earl of Rosshire
Summary: Continues from the end of PT II, The Boy Without a Fairy. Link awakes in the Chamber of Sages. His body is eighteen, his responsibilities formidible. Yet, in his mind, he isn't even twelve. How will he do what destiny requires of him?
1. Awake to Future Sorrows

Standard disclaimers:  This work started as a novelization of the game "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," and though differing from the original work does bear SIGNIFICANT similarity to the original.  The original, and many characters are Copyrighted by Nintendo Games, Mr. Shigeru Myamoto, and other fine creative people.  Other aspects are inspired by, or owned by J.K. Rowling, Simon Schama, Sir Walter Scott,  Ms. Rumiko Takihashi, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, and other luminaries.  All other material, including excessive length, new characters, new insight into old characters, and the fermenting of cheap ale over burning witches is entirely mine, and I solemnly declare copyright and copyleft to the same!  If you are going to rip me off, at LEAST cite me, and make the bloody mess readable!  Also, be thou warned!  This is NOT the Rt. Hon. Mr. Myamoto's pseudo-Tolkenesque world, but a ficticious artifice imposed upon the real one!  Purists who are offended by these words are owed no sympathy, for they have been warned!  Note also that due to my luddite unfamiliarity with the posting system here, the following chapters are from Part II, "The Boy Without a Fairy."  Parts 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 may be created and posted as appropriate, if this small sample proves satisfying to both you the reader, and me the maniacal egotistical author.  Also note, to those who read the dates in the chapter headings who have the profound question—when does Link die?  ***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER  _He Doesn't._  SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*** Also note that this is part two of the work as currently posted here.  It may change depending on where I place the twenty-first century portions, and how I incorporate them into this work.  Also, new characters not created in Mr. Myamoto's original work will be introduced later in this section.  The high rating is due to the fact that Link and Saria _are_ married, and consequences of that relationship.  I've tried to tone it down as much as possible, but they do indeed do what married people rightly do, and they are right to do it.  At least, if I thought otherwise, a certain Kokiri boy would be most vigorous in his disagreement with said thoughts.  If you are stupid enough to need the disclaimer, please don't try any of this at home. (Thursday, 21 March A. D. 457, First Day of Spring) Chapter 1 

"Link…  Wake up…  Link, the chosen one…"  

Link desperately wanted to wake up.  He was hoping that he was having a nightmare.  He hoped that he would wake up safe in his bed, with Saria safe in hers.  If they were life-mates, sharing the same bed, fine.  If not, they could fix that soon enough!  Even if he _never_ got his fairy, even if he had to leave the Kokiri, they would find a way.  And if they couldn't, she at least would still be alive!  As he woke up more though, he _knew!  This may have been _like_ a nightmare, but it was all too real!  He __had seen her raise her sword in his defence in the Temple of Time!  He __had raised the Master Sword in both hands to defend her!  Each had struck, engaging Ganondorf in battle.  But then, this horrible fog rose over him, removing him from the battle, to the sound of Ganondorf's evil laughter!  Link wept bitterly to himself.  But what else did he see?  He saw __Mido trying to draw her back just as the fog overwhelmed him!  Did Mido succeed?  Was Saria still alive?  Was there _any_ reason to hope?_

Link finally opened his eyes.  At first, they wouldn't focus.  As they started to work again, he was able to make out a man standing about seven feet from him.  This man stood six feet tall and weighed about eighteen stone.  He was bald on top of his head, and had medium length white hair.  His beard, moustache, and eyebrows were also white.  He had blue eyes.  Looking into those eyes told Link that this man was truly an ancient man!  Other than the white hair and baldness, the man could have been twenty!  But gazing into the man's eyes told Link the plain truth; the man before him was truly ancient, perhaps as old as the Great Deku Tree itself had been.  

The man saw that Link was awake, and spoke.

"I am Rauru, one of the ancient Sages…  Ages ago, we ancient Sages built the Temple of Time to protect the entrance to the Sacred Realm…  This is the Chamber of Sages, inside the Temple of Light."  

Link looked around quickly, since his eyesight had recovered.  He stood on a Triforce crest in the centre of a raised six-sided platform.  Rauru was standing on a gold coloured pad along the edge of the platform.  This platform was in the middle of a large room, with shimmering magical walls similar to the chamber of a great fairy.

Rauru continued.  "The Temple of Light, situated in the very centre of the Sacred Realm, is the last stronghold against Ganondorf's evil forces.  The Master Sword—the evil-destroying sword that you pulled out of the Pedestal of Time—was the final key to the Sacred Realm.  Link…  Don't be alarmed…  Look at yourself!"

Link did as Rauru told him.  He discovered that he no longer had the body of a Hylean boy, but a young Hylean man!  He was trim, but muscular of build.  He guessed that he was over two feet taller then he last remembered, and probably now weighed about fourteen stone.  He looked in amazement through Navi's eyes.  Had he not known he was looking at himself, he would almost not have recognized himself at all!  He was dressed differently as well.  He wore a forest cap, green jacket with a leather belt, and boots that came up just below the knee, as he did when he was… small?  

But instead of the shorts he had worn, he now wore a body suit similar to one a Hylean would wear.  Yet the body suit was knitted from deku wool, not the cotton or lamb's hair the Hyleans would use.  He also wore fingerless leather gauntlets on his hands.  Navi was also amazed at the change in his appearance.  She said "Look, Link!  You're big now!  You've grown up!"

Rauru continued.  "The Master Sword is a sacred blade which evil ones may never touch…  Only one worthy of the title of "Hero of Time" can pull it from the Pedestal of Time…  However, you were too young to be the Hero of Time…  Therefore, your spirit was sealed here for seven years.  And now that you are old enough, the time has come for you to awaken as the Hero of Time!"  

Link spoke for the first time.  "Rauru, you say my spirit was sealed here for seven years.  When you did this, what became of my life-mate?"  

Rauru replied, "Ganondorf was too intent on gaining the Triforce!  When I claimed you from the battle, I blocked Saria's view of Ganondorf, and his view of her!  He ignored this, so intent was he on gaining the Triforce!  She, and the warrior who accompanied her escaped without injury."

"But Ganondorf did enter through the door you opened in peace, even unto the Sacred Realm itself!  He obtained the Triforce from the Temple of Light, and with its power, he became the King of Evil…  His evil power radiated from the temples of Hyrule, and in seven short years, it transformed Hyrule into a world of monsters.  

"He was opposed, which has bought you some time.  Even I opposed him, with some success.  But I lack the power I had in ancient times, and Ganondorf has made me weaker yet.  My power now has only little influence, even in this Sacred Realm…  

But it protects this Chamber of Sages yet.  And, there is still hope…  The power of the Sages remains.  When the power of all the Sages is awakened, The Sages' Seals will contain all the evil power in the void of the Realm…  I, Rauru, am one of the Sages…  And your power to fight together with the Sages makes you the Hero of Time!  The Hero of Time, chosen by the Master Sword!  Keep my spirit with you…  And, find the power of the other Sages and add their might to your own!

Rauru raised his arms, and tossed a coin up into the air!  The coin traced a high, arcing path through the air, and came to Link, who caught it.  Rauru said "This is the Light Medallion!  It contains the essence of my magic power and strength.  As long as you carry it, you will fight with _my_ strength, as well as your own!  Find the other Sages, and save Hyrule!"  As these words echoed in Link's mind, he found himself travelling by magic!

Link and Navi found themselves back on the pedestal in the Temple of Time!  The room was darker than it had been just a few minutes before.  Or was it in fact seven years?  A quick look up at the window revealed that whatever day it was, it was mid-day.  But there hadn't been a cloud in the sky when they had entered the Temple!  The sky was covered with clouds.  Or was it smoke?  

Navi said, "Link, we're back in the Temple of Time.  But have seven years really passed?"  She quickly added, "It looks like you won't be able to use some of the weapons you found as a kid anymore.  Let's get out of here!"  

Link and Navi started to leave.  At first, they sensed a presence behind them.  Then, they heard the sound of a boot on stone.  Link turned around, drawing his sword and raising his shield.  The person who was behind him was not an enemy, or at least he didn't attack.

He stood slightly shorter than Link, and was of slender but muscular build.  He had blond hair, and red eyes.  He was dressed in the garb of a Sheikah warrior of old.  But unlike the old Sheikah warriors, he carried no shield, and only one short sword!  The Sheikah warriors carried shields similar to the Hylean shield he himself had in front of him.  And they, like the Nipponese Samurai warriors of legend _always carried two swords!_

The person spoke openly, yet something carried beyond the words the person spoke. "I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time.  When evil rules all, an awakening voice from the Sacred Realm will call those destined to be Sages, who dwell in the five temples.  One is in a deep forest, one is on a high mountain, one is under a vast lake, one is within the house of the dead, and one is inside a goddess of the sand.  Together with the Hero of Time, the awakened ones will bind the evil and return the light of peace to the world.  This is the legend of the temples passed down by my people, the Sheikah.  I am Sheik, survivor of the Sheikahs.  As I see you standing there, holding the Master Sword of Legend, you really do look like the legendary Hero of Time.  I only hope you can give truth to your appearance.

"If you believe the legend, you have no choice.  You must look for the five temples and awaken the five Sages.  One Sage is waiting for the time of awakening in the Forest Temple.  The Sage is someone I am sure you know.  Because of the evil power in the temple, the Sage cannot hear the awakening call from the Sacred Realm.

"Unfortunately, equipped as you currently are, you cannot even enter the temple.  But, if you believe what I'm saying, you should head to Kakariko Village.  There, you will find the hookshot, which will draw you into the Temple.  We will meet again."  Sheik threw down a deku nut, and disappeared behind the flash!

Link asked Navi "Is this 'Sheik' to be believed?  It sounded like it wanted me for a life-mate!"  

Navi answered, "I sensed some deception in Sheik, but not in what he told you.  I sense that 'Sheik' is not that person's real name.  Sheik might not even be a man!"  Link answered, "I hope Sheik _is_ a woman!  Better to have a Sheikah woman lust for me, than a man!"

Link took out his ocarina, and played the song of his wedding.  He received no answer.  The quiet ate at his heart.  But, as he was about to give up all hope, he _felt_ her!  It was just for a moment, but he felt her all the same!  And she was _alive!  He said to Navi "Let's get going!  We'll find out soon enough what year it is!"  _


	2. A Father Revealed

Chapter 2 

They found out that seven years HAD passed, and seven horrible ones at that.  As soon as they opened the door of the temple, they were struck by the devastation.  Where green grass and trees had grown around the temple, now there was nothing.  Even from the backs, it was obvious that the buildings of the city had not been lived in or used in years, at least not by Hyleans.

They entered the Market Square.  It was filled with dozens of ReDead.  Link ran straight to the fountain, went around it, and ran for his life down the main street to the drawbridge.  Even so, he was almost paralysed twice by the ReDead.  The drawbridge was broken and laying in the moat.  Link jumped from one half to the other of the drawbridge, and was out into Hyrule field.  As they ran from the castle, the sky brightened into a sunny early morning.  Link didn't stop until he was almost to the Kakariko steps.  There, he rested.

"Link, check your equipment!  A lot of time has passed, and you don't know what you have!"  Link did as Navi said.  They were both amazed at what they found.  

"My bedroll and spare clothes have been changed.  They were packed the way I would have packed them, but they are like new, and sized to fit me now!" Link exclaimed.  

Navi answered, "Your silver scale and bomb bags are just like before we went into the temple!  The bombs look like they're still fresh, and so do the bombchus!  Your bracelet was resized!  Look!"  

Link looked at his left wrist.  Sure enough, under the cuff of his left gauntlet, his Goron bracelet was on his wrist, adult sized, and a perfect fit.  But, as Navi had feared, not all of their equipment had received this attention.  Link thought:  "I could never hope to use this slingshot in battle!  It was snug in my hand before.  I can hide it in my hand now!"  Navi replied, "Look at the boomerang!  It almost looks like it shrank!  You had enough trouble with it when it fit you!  You could never hope to throw it in battle now!  At least not more than once…"  "Yes, Navi!  I didn't do to bad with it though, considering I hadn't seen one 'til I found it.  If this "hookshot" Sheik was talking about is as good as he says, I should be able to use it instead of the boomerang anyway.  The Kokiri Chieftain sword will make a good fighting knife, though the grip is almost too short."  Link looked at the deku wood shield and continued.  "If you hadn't had me take the shield from the Duke's tomb in Kakariko Graveyard, I wouldn't even have a shield!  I could never get my arm into these straps!  I can barely get my fingers into them!"

"That was your father's shield we took, Link.  There should have been a sword there, too.  He would have given them to you had he been able!"  "You knew my father?  How?  The Helfdanes always said that my mother and I came to the Forest alone!  And why was my _father's shield entombed with the Duke…"  The realization suddenly hit Link like a war club, even as Navi answered his question.  "Your father was Arliss the Fierce, the Duke of Hyrule.  And you and your mother did not travel alone that night.  __I was with you."_

Navi continued.  "I did not tell you before what I'm going to tell you now because I did not want to frighten you more.  You are the most courageous being I've ever known, including your father, but even your courage has its limits, and you've been near the end of yours for most of our quest.  But there are things you must know about yourself, our past, and me.  If I don't tell you now, you will not understand all we must do.  That could cause us to fail in stopping Ganondorf.  If the Monster of the Gerudo wins, the entire world will be devastated like Hyrule City!

"There is much you don't know about who you are, who I am, and who your parents were.  I'll speak first of your father, his is the easiest to tell.

"Your father was the son of Uther the Profound, Court Wizard to Flynn the Strong, King of the Hyleans and Sheikahs.  Uther, and his wife, Ulrica the Giantess plotted against Flynn.  They were both put to death, and your father was supposed to die as well.  But he escaped from Hyrule, and lived for a number of years amongst the Celts, Picts, and Brittons.  In their company, he learned to trade with cunning and guile, yet without cheating his customers.

"That is how he first came to know the Kokiri, thirty years before you were born; as a travelling trader.  He was an honest trader, pure of heart, who travelled the entire realm. His purity of heart, honesty, and respect for the Kokiri won their trust quickly.  He was the only Hylean they knew who truly knew and loved the forest.  He never got lost in the Lost Woods.  Even Kokiri get lost in the Woods from time to time.  For a Hylean to range the Forest freely, when most Hyleans get lost forever in the woods to become Stalfos, was unheard of.  It was also rumoured that he might have Kokirish blood in him.  He thanked the Kokiri for saying this of him, but denied knowing of any.

"Yet even then he was more than a travelling peddler.  He had settled amongst the Gerudo, and had taken the favourite princess of King Aarondorf for his wife."

Link gasped in amazement!  He started to interrupt Navi, but she stopped him cold!  She said, "Hold your questions, Link!  Much will be answered if you let me speak.  

"As I was saying, he had taken Princess Castilla for his first wife.  By her he had two daughters, Princesses Nabooru and Aveil.  But first, he sired a son, something King Aarondorf would never do.  The son's born name was Arial.  He is known to the world today as King Ganondorf."

This time, Link _did_ interrupt!  He shouted, "No!  Ganondorf could never be my brother!  Have even _you_ turned on me?"

Navi shouted back sternly, "No!  I said for you _not_ to interrupt!  Besides, Ganondorf is only your half-brother, and fell under the hideous influence of King Aarondorf!  Let me tell your tale, _then_ question me of it if you will!

"As I was saying, your father fathered King Ganondorf by his first wife, Princess Castilla.  Your father and Ganondorf got along poorly; the Gerudo took a far greater liking to King Aarondorf, to the harm of all the realm.

"Your father's strength was legendary.  He was also good with a two-handed sword, and quick to use it for a just cause.  Twenty years to the day before I became your guardian, Ganondorf attacked the Kokiri, at King Aaronforf's instigation.  As the only male Gerudo, he guaranteed to become King of the Gerudos at birth.  He was only fifteen, but already a truly evil man.  One hundred Gerudos were lined up, with Ganondorf at the lead, to burn down the Kokiri Forest!  The Kokiri men, the other Battle-Fairies, and I were arrayed for battle, but we didn't stand a chance.  The only fighters we had that had any courage or skill were the Helfdane twins, Saria's father Sarchan the Wizard, and Mido's father Weldo the Warlord, who was Chieftain of the Kokiri then.  

"Your father appeared almost out of nowhere!  He SINGLE-HANDEDLY killed ALL the Gerudo fighters!  He then stripped Ganondorf of his britches and beat his bare buttocks with a deku stick in front of all the Kokiri!  He then sent Ganondorf running off into Hyrule field, crying like a little girl!  That night he also saved my life.

"You already know that before I became your guardian, I was a Battle Fairy.  In fact, I was Chieftainess of the Battle Fairies, who helped The Great Deku Tree guard the Kokiri.  Battle fairies are much more powerful than guardian fairies.  We needed almost no sustenance at all, and we drew what we needed from The Great Deku Tree.  We could draw on the Tree from anywhere in the realm.  We had also mastered the power of the thunderbolt.  We could shoot thunderbolts so powerful that they could split the largest rocks.  All of the realm feared us in battle, and this fear is part of what protected the Kokiri Forest.

"Even then, Ganondorf was studying Black Magic.  He cast a curse upon all of us Battle fairies as he started out from the Gerudo Valley.  I lost twelve of my fairies to slowing him down and telling the rest of us where the Gerudo were.  The other twelve of my fairies and I were arrayed on the field in case Sarchan could lift the curse.  Failing that, we were to help Weldo and Sarchan lead the Kokiri.  We fairies had already joined the battle when your father arrived.  We were trying to distract and disorient the Gerudo.  This was working, but not too well.  We lost six battle fairies that night, and I was badly wounded.  I was attacking Ganondorf himself.  I had not only disoriented him, but I found the strength to shoot a few small sparks into his eyes.  He recovered instantly, though, and swatted me to the ground.  This alone had me dying.  He was about to crush me beneath his boot when your father rescued me.  He kicked Ganondorf in the chest so hard that he flew fifty feet!  He scooped me up, and placed me in his shirt pocket, all the while attacking Gerudo with his great sword!

"After killing all the Gerudo, before he attended to Ganondorf, he used a healing potion on me.  This kept me alive.  After humiliating Ganondorf, he carried me gently in his hands all the way to the healing fairy's fountain outside the Sacred Forest Meadow.  He carried me back to The Great Deku Tree and carried each of my battle fairies to the fairy fountain to be healed.

"For this, he was made an honorary Kokiri, and named "The Hylean Deku Tree".  This was the highest noble rank of the Kokiri, placing Arliss above Weldo, and second only to The Great Deku Tree himself.  The Great Deku Tree, seeing that Arliss had saved my life even more surely than my sisters, bid me to serve Arliss for the rest of his life, that he would have a fairy like a proper Kokiri nobleman.

"This feat also impressed the King of the Hyleans so much that he created Arliss the Duke of Hyrule, to be passed on to his sons forever.  This title placed him above _all_ the nobles of the realm, making him second only to the Kings and Crown Princes of the realm.  

"Before Prince Ganondorf attacked the Kokiri, he murdered his mother, Princess Castilla, again at King Aarondorf's bidding, though I'm told he didn't have to be bid too strongly.  He made it look as if the act was done by your father, but not so strongly as to be believed with an absolute certainty.  The Gerudo were not ready for a war with the Hyleans and Sheikahs.  

"To postpone that war, King Aarondorf and Prince Ganondorf denied any involvement or blessing of the attack on the Kokiri, and affirmed your father's title amongst the Gerudo!  By doing this, he made it impossible for your father to take the Hylean army against the Gerudo in retaliation.  

"Your father's title was quickly affirmed by King Darunia of the Gorons as well; King Darunia and your father were 'sworn-brothers' as you and King Darunia are.  This makes you a Goron Noble, as it did your father.

"The Zoras were less cooperative with this turn of events.  Your father was obliged to attack them; he dealt them a humiliating defeat in battle without inflicting very many casualties against them.  King Neptune the twelfth abdicated in favour of his youngest brother, King Zora the sixteenth; and your father's title was affirmed throughout the land.

"Your father led the King's army in battle from then on, and provided other wise counsel when asked.  He was also given what is now called Lon-Lon Ranch.  He married Junia, the older sister of Romani, Malon's mother.  Romani's husband was Talon, the King's Groomsman.  The King made Talon Arliss' liege, to run the ranch when Arliss was away.  Arliss also hired a young boy, Ingovard to be his squire.  You've already met both Talon and Ingo.  Talon was not nearly as lazy, nor Ingo as arrogant and grasping, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

"Right before his death, The Duke knew that Ganondorf was plotting against the Kokiri and the Hyleans again.  This was the time when the King of the Hyleans was trying to end the many wars throughout the realm.  Your father knew of Ganondorf's treachery for a certainty.  But he didn't know what Ganondorf planned to do, and he couldn't act without solid proof to show the King.  He, Weldo, Sarchan, and the Helfdanes set out to find the proof, and perhaps also to kill Ganondorf if that proof was found.  He also made provisions with the Great Deku Tree in case he failed.  The Deku Tree agreed to take in his wife and infant child, and hide them as Kokiri should he fall in battle or ambush to Ganondorf.  At the same time, Ganondorf was plotting revenge against your father.  Ganondorf and the evil witches Kotake and Koume met your father, Weldo, and Sarchan on the field south of Lon-Lon ranch.  Your father sent the Helfdanes and I to rescue your mother and you, knowing that there would also be a party sent to sack his house at Lon-Lon.  We almost arrived too late.  The ranch was already in flames, and your mother was badly hurt.  She had herself killed twelve Gerudo, and protected you from harm.

"We helped take your mother to the Kokiri Forest and tried to nurse her back to health.  It was no use, though.  She only awoke long enough to tell us your name, and bid us to care for you.  The Great Deku Tree decided that your origins must be kept secret from all, even from you.  He believed if Ganondorf found out you were alive, he would never rest until he had killed you, and all who protected you.  For it was already well known that the Hero of Time would be of noble birth in both the Kokiri Forest and in Hyrule.  You were to be raised as you were, as an orphan and refugee, but of unknown common birth.  You were to be trained in the art of war directly, and the art of governance and diplomacy subtly, that even you wouldn't realize at the time what you were learning.

"This worked, but only too well.  According to the legends, Saria was promised as the life-mate of the Great Warlord of the Kokiri.  The Hero of Time was promised to marry the Princess of the Hyleans once the quest had been won, making him King of Hyrule.  Mido is Warlord now, if he still lives.  But, Saria is _your_ life-mate, and Zelda, if _she_ lives, is still a maiden.  I don't know what the future holds there.  What I do know is that we must get the hookshot from Kakariko, and then find out what happened to your father's sword!  For without his sword, as well as the Master Sword, you stand little chance against Ganondorf, or his minions guarding the temples!"  

"What is the importance of my father's sword?" asked Link.  "The Master Sword is supposed to kill all that is evil, even I can feel that it is no ordinary sword.  Can a normal sword, even if two handed, carry more power?"

Link's fairy replied, "Your father's sword is the core of the other blade of legend, the answer to the riddle of the Sword of Ages.  The truth of this legend has even been lost to Rauru, or perhaps he believes this sword lost for all time.  Otherwise, he surely would have told you to find it.  

"The legend foretelling of this time describes how Ganondorf will fall:  'The Beast will be felled in this time with the Sword of Ages.  It will then be bound for a one and a half thousand years less an unguarded moment by the Guardian to the Gates of Time.'  

"The 'guardian' is the Master Sword.  Many also think the Master Sword is also the Sword of Ages.  But this cannot be.  The Sword of Ages is described as 'passed from father to son, noble to noble, double forged by hands of living stone, whitened by the purity of Din's Fire, and quenched in healing waters.'  

"The Master Sword was made at the same time as the original Sages built the Temple of Time.  But _all the Sages together forged __that blade themselves, and only once!  Only one of the Sages was a Goron, the only race that could be said to have hands of living stone.  And, the Master Sword was never part of an inheritance; it was always for the Hero of Time alone, whomever the Sword recognized as such.  Your father's sword is different._

"Do you remember the large Goron who ignored us when we received Din's Fire from the Great Fairy atop Death Mountain?  When your Father was your age now, he bought his two-handed sword from that Goron!  For that Goron, Biggoron, was one of the finest forgers and crafters of swords ever known.  Biggoron once charged, and was _gratefully paid, one ton of the finest marble for even a small sword.  Your father, though, was Sworn Brother of Darunia, as you are now.  He ended a quarrel between Darunia and Biggoron, which had lasted for dozens of years.  In gratitude, Biggoron charged your father one __pound of Dodongo granite!  He also pledged that 'should this sword fail you in battle, my life, and those of my children shall fail me!'  _

"When news reached the Gorons of your father's death, all were saddened.  None believed that your father's sword had failed him.  But Biggoron was struck with fear and sadness anyway.  He said 'Until the Duke of Hyrule, the wild Darunia's sworn brother assureth me otherwise, I am as if dead, and will remain so forever!'  If Biggoron still lives, and if we find your father's sword, he should reforge it for us!  We will then need the Great Fairy to heat and quench the sword.  But the only chance we have of finding your father's sword is to raise his spirit from the dead.  You didn't know the Song of Time when last we visited your father's tomb.  Nor did you have the power and authority to use it.  Now, you have both!  Hopefully, your father will be able to help us."

Link asked Navi, "But what of Talon and Ingovard?  How did they survive the sacking of Lon-Lon Ranch if they were my father's liegemen?  And if they were not traitors to him, wouldn't they serve me too?  Surely they would be of some help?"

Navi answered.  "As for Talon and Ingovard, they were both in Hyrule Castle on Arliss' orders.  Romani was pregnant with Malon, and the labour was a difficult one.  Ingovard, as a boy of eight years, ended up midwifing for Romani.  Malon was born healthy, but Romani seemed doomed before the day started.  No one could have saved her, yet Ingovard did.  She died in childbirth with a son some years later.  Talon was never grateful to Ingovard for preserving Romani's life then, and blamed him for her dying later on.  Ingo in turn resented this, and mistakenly blamed Talon for the loss of your mother and you, believing both of you dead.

"Talon was not a mean or vengeful man.  He kept Ingo on as a stableman.  But Talon was naturally careless and lazy.  As Malon came of age, she helped keep her father out of trouble.  

"Ingo poured his life into running that ranch.  The indifference shown to him by Talon, and the loneliness he felt with his burden ate at and poisoned his heart.  When we last visited Lon-Lon ranch, he was bitter but saveable.  I don't know what we'll find when we go there again.  

"And that may be soon, indeed!  Before we leave Dampé the gravekeeper, who owns the hookshot, we will also find out what happened to your father's sword.  We may have to travel the entire realm to find it, if it can be found.  With the time we have, we will have to have a horse to do that.  Only Lon-Lon ranch and the Gerudo ever raised horses of any quality in this realm.  As the Gerudo wouldn't be likely to sell you a horse, and walking is out of the question, you will _have_ to visit Lon-Lon Ranch."

With that, Link re-shouldered his equipment, and they finished the walk into Kakariko village.


	3. A Father's Love?

Chapter 3 

Kakariko village had changed in the seven years since they had last visited it, but that was to be expected.  The village had grown somewhat.  There were more houses and shops.  More people travelled the streets.  Impa's village was growing, but at what cost?  While they noticed old Kakariko faces, and faces from other distant parts of the realm, he also noticed faces from Hyrule Castle Town as well; faces that said that they too called Kakariko home.  Kakariko's growth was a by-product of Hyrule Castle Town's destruction.

As Link and Navi walked up the street, they came upon two young men, who were obviously friends.  However, the one friend was visibly frightened, while the other laughed at him.  He realized that these men were the same ones who he had met so many years earlier, when he had to sneak into Hyrule Castle for his audience with the Princess.  He approached the two men and struck up a conversation.  

"Friends, I am a traveller from far away" Link began.  "I noticed the fright of one of you, and the scorn of the other.  The two of you are friends, but your actions are unusual.  What would frighten one brave man, yet only earn scorn from the other?"

The frightened man replied "My friend does not believe in ghosts, even during these evil times!  Nor did I, until last night!  I had tarried late at the grave of my mother.  I was leaving the village graveyard, just after dark, when I _saw him!  I saw the ghost of Dampé, the dead village gravedigger!  He was cackling as he sank back into his grave, that he had a wondrous treasure with him!  It frightened me to my very bones!  This was last night, yet still I quake in fear!"  _

"You must understand my friend" said the other man.  "He is a hopeless romantic and dreamer, and I love him like a brother because of it!  But still… Before he met his wife, would you believe that he actually tried to sneak into Hyrule Castle, thinking that he could marry Princess Zelda!  And him only a commoner, as am I?  Well, he did!  And he almost succeeded!  I believe his fright.  I laugh to try to break him of it.  I _would_ almost believe it, but _Dampé_?  _TREASURE_?  Dampé was a gravedigger!  The only treasure that man had was the satisfaction of laying someone to rest at ten rupees a hole!  An honest living to be sure, but I wouldn't call it a _treasure_!  Certainly not one to brag about from beyond the grave!  Were Dampé not the gravedigger of that cemetery in life, he would _never_ have been buried there, anyhow!  That is the resting ground of Sheikah warriors, Hylean nobles, and the very wealthy.  The late King's family was buried there in times past, and so was the Warrior Duke who used to ride the fields…  Perhaps that _is a treasure at that!  I thank you for listening to us, friend!  You have helped me find wisdom!"  _

"And I too thank you traveller!" the frightened man exclaimed.  "For you are a man who radiates courage!  You have opened my eyes and broken my terror!  For Dampé was a kind man, despite his looks, and in life he looked frightening indeed!  He would never hurt a soul!  But he could be a braggart!  Just the man to brag of his fortune in being buried in the graveyard he loved, with the important people who he himself dug graves for."  

"And I thank you, friends, for talking so freely to me.  I am glad I was able to help by listening to you."  After Link said that, he and Navi continued walking towards the graveyard.

They walked past shops and houses.  They walked past the House of Jardain.  When last he visited Kakariko Village, Arthur, Louis, and Edgar had just started to clean it up.  The other villagers not only avoided the place; they avoided its residents as well, though they were no longer cursed.  Now, their counting house was fully set right, and fairly busy.  People entered and left the place, obviously using the services the sons of Jardain offered.  The once-faded sign, which sat in back of their room, now hung proudly over the front door.  Once again it announced in the Hylean tongue and the tongue of Jardain's ancestors, "Jardain and Sons, Counting House."  For those who couldn't read, the large moneybag on the sign told of the services offered inside.

On their left, the unfinished building of Link's youth was now a indoor target range.  People went into and out of it too, but it was a place of amusement, so wasn't as busy as Jardain and Sons.  They walked past where the young woman tended her Cucoos years ago.  She was still tending fowl there, but they were smaller.  They did not stop and talk with her, though.  They had more important business up the hill.  They left the village, and walked up the path to the graveyard.  

The graveyard had changed even less than Kakariko Village.  The patch of weeds was still in the corner to the right of the cemetery gate.  The old sign was still posted by the front gate, or was it?  Closer examination revealed that the sign had a different notice on it.  Instead of advertising Dampé's nightly tours of the graveyard, the sign advertised something else.  "Until further notice, tours have been cancelled."  

Link walked to the door of Dampé's shed.  The door had not been disturbed in some time.  However, it was not locked, either.  He opened the door and went inside.  The shack had been Dampé's house in life.  From the looks of the place, that life had ended sometime in the past year, but no less than ten months ago.  He found a diary that appeared to have been faithfully kept by its owner, but that had not seen attention lately.  The last entry read:  "Today was the day of the winter feast, and still no word from the Duke's boy about his inheritance, or my greatest treasure.  Surely, had the boy lived, I would have heard from him now.  For he would be celebrating his eighteenth year the first of this coming spring, and _no one who was Arliss' son could have ignored Ganondorf's evil this long in silence!  I will take my great treasure to the grave with me!  No other is worthy of it here!  Perhaps the Duke's boy will use my mighty Hookshot to pull himself from the grave.  Or maybe the Duke himself will!  No matter, until then, it's MINE!"   _

Link wondered, "Is this hookshot magic?  If it could pull one from the grave, why didn't Dampé use it himself?"  

"He was exaggerating, Link!" Navi scolded.  She said more softly, "He won the hookshot from your father in a footrace around an unfinished tomb that Dampé was digging for Impa.  Impa, like many great Sheikahs, had her grave prepared in advance, as soon as she received her first great office from the Hylean Royal Family.  This was just before your father died, when Impa was named nurse-guardian for Princess Zelda.  The hookshot is vital to our quest, but was just an amusement to your father, who had found it while travelling.  After we visit your father's grave, we will have to visit Dampé's grave, and see if we can retrieve the hookshot."

Link and Navi left Dampé's shed, and went to the grave of Arliss the Fierce.  The grave, though not tended recently, still looked neat and cared for.  The forest flowers still grew, looking as if caring hands tended them.  Link went to the back of the gravestone and pulled it back.  The stone slid more easily than he remembered.  He went to the front of the grave again.  The fairy step was still at the bottom of the tomb entrance, and felt as if it would still push him back out of the tomb when he needed to leave it.  He and Navi jumped down the hole.

Link looked around. The grave had not been entered since he last entered it just over seven years ago.  The enchanted torches still burned brightly. The grave was still in disarray.  There were still bones scattered across the floor of the tomb, his father's bones.  Link wept silently.  He noticed something else, which escaped his concerns when last he visited.  It was a stone upon the ceiling of the chamber that read:  "He who seeks order would play the Song of Time here."  

Link took the Ocarina of Time and played the Song of Time.  A horrible, ghostly voice shouted "Answer me, who art thou who wouldst disturb the eternal rest of Arliss, lest thou join me in eternal suffering!"

Link replied, "If you are truly Arliss the Fierce, you would never have me join you, at least not until your great-greatchildren could carry my bones to this garden of stone!  For I am your son.  You loved me so much that you hid yourself from me, lest I be killed before I became a man.  You denied me my inheritance, until the day that inheritance would help me, not be my doom!  That day is now, Papa!  Help me rescue the mother of your unborn grandchildren from unknown bondage, if she still lives!  Help me save the daughter of the King to whom you swore fealty, for she deserves that help even if he never did!  Help me rid the world of the monster who laid you and my mother in an undeserved and early grave!  Help me win in battle, that you may finally be proud of me!"  The voice answered, "My son, I am already prouder of you than you will ever know!"

With that, the bones disintegrated in a flash of light, and were replaced by the ghostly appearance of a great warrior.  The warrior resembled Link somewhat.  However, anyone who knew both Arliss and Junia in life would say that they saw more of her in Link than him.  The apparition had Link's build, but proportional to being eight feet tall, not six feet.  The features of the face, though resembling Link's, were crudely sculpted, not quite handsome, and the hair was black as night.  The beard and moustache were thick, full, and just as black.  Link was reddish blond, and if he could have grown facial hair, it would be as fair.  The apparition's blue eyes though were the inspiration of Link's, matching but not quite equalling in life the fire, brilliance, and intensity.  The spectre continued.  "Link, we will meet again, when you have more time.  There is much I would tell you.  But time is short, so listen carefully.

"First, I love you more than you will ever realize, until the day you have your first son, then you will know.  Second, Saria is rightly your life-mate, according to legend.  There is more to it than that, but I cannot tell you yet, nor can I tell you how I know these things now.  Third, Saria is safe, for now.  But time is growing short there, too.  You must free the Forest Temple first, and soon, lest Saria die.  Fourth, you noticed that Sheik acted unnatural for a man.  That is because Sheik is a woman.  You will feel attraction for Sheik as you come closer to the final battle with Ganondorf.  Do not encourage this, but _do not fight it!_  I cannot tell you more, but your proper course of action is to neither fight nor encourage Sheik.  If you encourage an improper relationship with her, or discourage what will happen by fate, the battle will be lost, and both you and Saria will die!

"You must also be careful in this time.  Because of who you are, you will live these times differently than everyone else.  Before you fight Ganondorf for the last time, you will _travel through time!_  By the way ordinary people live, by the way even _I_ exist in time, you've already done things you haven't yet done!  When you are doing those things, you will know of things that haven't happened yet, but will!  You fight to save the realm.  Be careful in your travels through time that you don't destroy it!"  Link was almost sick with the weight of the responsibility, and the fear it brought.  Arliss said, "Fear not, son.  You are unusually wise for either an eleven or an eighteen-year-old.  Your heart is also pure, and can sense these things, as those of all your people can.  Use your heart and mind, and you will do fine.

"Finally, your inheritance.  The entire realm is in disarray, the worst it's been since Ganondorf took over.  The Gorons, except a few including Biggoron the Smith, are in bondage, to be sacrificed to the evil dragon of lore, Volvagia!  The Land of the Zoras is frozen solid.  Lake Hylia's water level has dropped almost three times my height.  The Kokiri, though, suffer the worst!  The village where you grew up is over-run with deku-babas and mad scrubs!  The Kokiri have been reduced in number by a third!  This has only happened recently.  Up to this point, Mido has been able to defend the forest, with help from the Helfdanes, and three others.  Even now, he still holds the Lost Woods, keeping them safe for the Kokiri.  But even he, Warlord that he became thanks to you, can't hold out much longer.  And it was _you who helped him finally grow up and who gave him an example, when he could not see the example his father left for him.  For their sake especially, you must find my sword!  Finding my sword will be difficult, but not impossible.  It will only take five days.  You will also start redeeming your two retainers, Ingovard and Talon._

"After you leave me, go to the magic bean you planted as a child.  It is now a magic bean plant, and will take you up to a hidden ledge.  In a crate on the ledge is what remained of Dampé's heart, carefully preserved.  It will help you on your quest, as will anything to increase your strength and endurance.  Next to that plant is Dampé's grave.  He will challenge you to a race.  You will not win the race this time, but come close as you can.  _Do not lose him!_  Once the race is over, he will recognize you, and give you the hookshot.  The way out of his grave will open only for you, the way you called me.  This will put you in the top of the windmill.  There, Dampé hid what remained of _my_ heart, many years ago.  He did this on my orders, given before I went to my death, though at the time I didn't know why I bid him do it.  Before you leave, talk to the mad music man in the windmill.  He is not only mad, he is angry.  His anger is caused by a song, which he will teach you.  _Learn this song!_  You will need this song for the final battle with Ganondorf, should you live that long.

"Next, travel to your country estate.  You must arrive there before mid-afternoon.  There, you will find your squire, in the depths of his fall into treachery.  He has taken Lon-Lon from your uncle, running Talon off, to this very village.  You will not hurt him, nor will you tell him who you are, until after you've gained what you seek.  He will offer to let you ride a horse for money.  Pay him.  You will call your horse with the song your cousin taught you years ago.  When your horse comes, ride her.   When Ingo tells you the time has expired, pay him for more time.  When you ride this time, Ingo will challenge you to a race, wagering fifty rupees.  He will also cheat, giving himself a head start.  But your horse, Epona, is the fastest horse in the realm.  Ride her hard, but save some of her strength for the last part of the race.  Ingo's horse is also easily made drowsy and slow by fairy dust.  Once you win, Ingo will challenge you to another race, this time for the horse.  Defeat him again as you did before.  He will try to renege on his bet.  He will give you the horse, but lock the front gate to the farm.  Say what seems right to Ingo then, but do not hurt him.  I never rode out that gate in times of trouble, and neither should you.  Jump the west fence; on Epona you will do it easily.

"Ride like the wind back to Kakariko.  Talk to the woman who raises cuccoos by the graveyard path.  She will offer you an egg, due to hatch in the morning.  Take it.  Then, go to the potion shop, and buy one fairy-bottle of blue fire.

"In the morning, enter the house by the first stairway leading to Death Mountain.  There you will find your lazy groom.  Wake him with the newly hatched cuccoo.  He will not recognize your birthright, but will remember you from when you were a boy.  He will take off for Lon-Lon.  That will not be your concern as of yet.  Take the cuccoo back to the woman, who is daughter to the man who has your sword.  Don't ask her about the sword, though.  Have her look at the cuccoo she gave you.  She will then give you another.  Take this blue cuccoo to the Lost Woods, where the lone Skull Kid played his ocarina years ago.  Give the cuccoo to the deformed son of the carpenter.  He will ask you to take a magic mushroom of the forest to Granny's Potion Shop in Kakariko.  Do his bidding.  But be quick!  If you take too long, the mushroom will spoil, and your quest for my sword will be lost.  Granny will sell you blue healing potions later, but on this trip, she will make a potion from the mushroom.  This potion will also spoil, but it will be no matter.  Be quick all the same.  When you return to the Lost Woods, a Kokiri girl will be waiting.  You will not recognize her, for she was an infant when you and Saria were married.  Nor will she recognize you.  She will demand the return of the potion, as only Kokiri can reap of the Lost Woods.  You have more right to that potion than she, but give it to her anyway.  In return, she will give you a poacher's saw, which the carpenter's son left behind.  Take this saw to the rope bridge at the mouth of the Gerudo Valley.  There, you will find the carpenter.  Give him the saw; he will give you the pieces to my sword.

"Take the sword to Biggoron.  You planted a magic bean plant at the mouth of Dodongo's Cavern as a child.  It will make your trip several hours quicker.  Ride it up to the magic cow grotto near the summit.  Jump off of it, and run the rest of the way.  Biggoron will recognize the sword as his work, but will not recognize the sword itself.  His sight has been dimmed by the recent eruptions of Death Mountain, and he is in pain.  He will ask you to bring him eye drops from King Zora.  Do this for him.  Run to Zora's Palace.  When you get there, you will find everything, including Zora himself, frozen solid.  Take your bottle of blue fire, and thaw King Zora.  He will give you a Zora Tunic in gratitude.  This tunic will allow you to breathe underwater.  You will need this later, should you live to awaken the Sage of the Water Temple.  Show Zora the note from Biggoron asking for the eye drops.

"Zora does not _make_ the eye drops.  He will give you a frozen eyeball frog to take to the potion lab at Lake Hylia.  If you aren't fast, the frog will thaw, and will be useless.  If it does thaw, Zora has a few more, but you must not waste time or frogs.  Run to the mouth of Zora's River, and mount Epona.  Ride the southern way to Lake Hylia.  The peahats you remember from childhood are long dead, and you wouldn't have time to ride around them even if they still lived.  You will need to jump both fences blocking the path to Lake Hylia, but Epona will make those jumps easily if you have her at full gallop.  Ride to the door of the potion lab, and enter quickly on foot.

"The master potioner will at first think you brought him dinner.  Be polite, but firm, and he will make the eye drops for free.  These eye drops will spoil fast; so don't delay.  Mount Epona, and ride at full gallop the entire length of the west road, cross the stone bridge, and ride to the steps of Kakariko.  Epona will not be able to walk up the stairs, so you will have to run from there.  Run up to the mouth of the Dodongo's Cave.  Ride your magic bean leaf to the hidden cow grotto near the summit of Death Mountain.  You will have to run and climb from here.  A red tektite and three skullwaltullahs will wait in ambush.  Kill or bypass them _quickly_, and climb up to the summit.  Give Biggoron his eye drops.

"After Biggoron uses the eye drops, he will recognize the sword.  He will be deathly afraid.  You must calm him down.  When he has calmed, bid him to hold his ear to the mouth of the Fountain of the Great Fairy of Swords.  Go in to the Fountain.  Call me; then call the Great Fairy.  You will call me with this song from now on, listen carefully, and treasure it in your heart!"

Arliss' ghost whistled the "Song of the Fathers."  Link was surprised that it sounded so familiar.  "It _is familiar, Link" Arliss continued.  "It is the minor key of the 'Song of Manhood,' which you would have played for the Great Deku Tree, had you not had your unique burden to prove your manhood.  Played in the major key, it pays tribute to your long dead ancestors.  Played _this_ way, it __calls your long dead father from the grave!  Normally, Kokiri don't do this.  But these are not normal times._

"I must leave you now.  Before you leave, there is a wall behind me.  There is a healing fairy fountain behind this wall.  Blow the wall down with a bomb.  Then, leave!  You have much to do, and so little time in which to do it!  May fortune ride with you, my son!"  Arliss disappeared, leaving four fresh torches lit in the sconces around the tomb.  Link blasted the back wall of the tomb.  He explored behind it, finding that there was a healing fairy fountain behind it.  He left the fountain, and the tomb.

He noticed that almost no time at all had passed while he was in the tomb.  A leaf, which had started to fall from a nearby tree, was still falling lazily to the ground, though there was no wind to hold it up.  He climbed up the hill to where he had planted the magic bean as a kid.  It seemed like he had just planted it weeks ago, and in his experience, he had.  

The bean was grown up, or more accurately grown around.  It was now as big around as a tavern round table, though it was only as tall as the top of his foot.  He walked over to the bean plant, and stepped on it.  It raised him about fifteen feet into the air, stopped for a moment, and lowered gently back down.  It then started to rise again.  While it was up the first time, Link noticed a crate on a ledge, just as the apparition had described.  This time, he jumped onto the ledge and rolled into the crate with all his might.  The crate burst, and he was on the preserved heart quarter so quickly he almost didn't realize that he had it.  But he felt his body absorb it.  He thought, "So far, the apparition has spoken the truth.  But was it my father?  And does it still hold the loyalties it did in life if it is?"  

Navi answered, "It is the very man, Link!  I was with him for many years.  Not quite as close as to you, but very close anyway.  This was your father in life, and he is the same man in the grave, even after almost two decades.  That grave down there might be Dampé's.  Notice it has flowers on it like your father's."

Link looked at the grave below, nearest where he stood.  The stone was marked simply "Dampé", and the flowers were indeed like those on his father's grave.  Link jumped down, landing behind the tombstone.  He drew the stone back, and made a leap of faith into the hole.

Link was in the entrance to a tomb befitting royalty.  Floating fifteen feet away was the ghost of Dampé.  It challenged Link "Heh heh heh, young man!  Are you fast on your feet?  I may not look like it, but I'm confident in my speed!  Let's have a race!  Follow me if you dare!"  

The ghost started to drift away.  Link chased after it.  As the ghost ran, it threw fireballs behind it, not caring if the fireballs missed Link or hit him.  Link was able to duck the fireballs when they came, but they made it harder to follow at a full run.  Link and the ghost raced through the huge labyrinthine tomb.  They ran through doors and gates, which magically opened for the ghost, and seemed to close right behind Link.  They finally reached the last room, after racing over a ledge that wrapped around a steep gorge.  The ghost looked at Link.  It then spoke.

"You are the Duke's Boy!  So you've finally come!  You were so much the Kokiri in appearance and manner as a boy that I did not recognize you at first.  But recognize you I did.  You claimed your father's shield then, and didn't suffer the curse.  You had to be him!"  

"What curse?" the Hero of Time asked.  

The spectre answered, "The curse your father put on his sword and shield as he died!  He cursed them to all but you.  'Whoever would steal my son's legacy, they will be cursed!  Have he a son, the son will go mad!  Have he no son, he will hew himself in two with the sword!  The shield will not block attack, it will magnify the force of the attack by a thousand, and deliver it full on his thieving bosom!'  The carpenter robbed your father's grave not a week after your father was laid to rest.  I begged him to return the sword, but he denied stealing it, claiming he had bought a Goron two-handed sword from the Gorons some time before.  Even after the madness started, the carpenter refused to admit his crime, let alone make amends!  But all the town knew.

"A master carpenter will never lack for work, they are so rare.  But for that, that man would have been run out of Kakariko or worse.  Master Carpenters in this land never have to pay for food or lodging in a town where they work.  This one did, and if he works here again, will still.  Before I died, he was journeying to the Gerudo Valley to repair their bridge.  You've talked to your father?"

The Hero of Time answered the ghost of the gravedigger.  "Yes, I have.  He bid me do many things, but there are still things I wonder about.  How do you owe friendship to my family?  Did you know my father before he became a Duke?  No one ever referred to him by his given name that I've heard speak, except for Navi!"  

Dampé answered, "When we first met, I was a young Lieutenant of the Hylean Royal Guard, and he was a travelling peddler.  I was friendly to him, unlike the other Guardsmen.  I allowed him to trade with the servants of the Palace, and even traded with him myself.  He was an honest and kind man.  His goods were always at least as good as he said, and while his prices made him a living, they were reasonable.

"The father of the Princess you serve was a mediocre King.  I was falsely accused of dereliction of duty by the other Lieutenant of the Guard.  The King knew I was innocent, but ordered me punished anyway, as he favoured the other Lieutenant over me.  

"I had already been tortured on the rack, and had several bones broken.  They were hanging me slowly, to be drawn and quartered, when The Duke arrived.  He cut me down himself.  He then cut down the Captain of the Guard, who was obliged to stop him.  He then went straight to the King.  He confronted the King sternly, for the charges were such an obvious lie that _no one_ believed them!  Confronted thusly, the King relented.  He appointed me Captain of the Guard, but I would not have it.  

"I told the King, 'Your Highness, I have served you loyally to now.  I am now crippled from the rewards of that service, and insulted such that I could never find satisfaction without breaking my oath to your safety.  Finish the job, or watch me leave.  Lieutenant Garzo, whose lie you favoured, is now Captain.  May he serve for you more faithfully than he served with me.'  With that, I left Hyrule Castle, never to return.

"Your father went to pay blood-money to the mother of the dead Captain.  She refused, because she believed her son wrong!  'He should have been _on_ those gallows, not guarding them!  Losing a son such as mine, love him though I do, is no loss my lord!' is what she said!  Your father saw to her comfort anyway, he was that kind of a man.  For Captain Beow's fate simply placed him where he could have done no right.

"But the King never forgave your father for being confronted.  Your father died a month later.  The King did not declare so much as an _hour of mourning for your father, much less the week due a Duke of Hyrule!  Nor did he have your mother entombed with your father.  For if he had looked, he _surely_ would have found her body, even if he didn't find her killers.  But he didn't look for either!  He gave your estate to your uncle, but didn't even send flowers to your father's grave.  Had your father not been a friend to Impa and I, he wouldn't even have received the tomb he had earned.  Your father _was_ to have been sent to the Kokiri, to do with what they pleased.  To go in the pyre would not have bothered your father, but he was _The Duke_ and __my friend!  Impa protected me from the King's wrath for entombing him where he belonged.  I also had the Kokiri warrior twins visit your father's grave.  They planted the forest flowers that adorn it._

"Nor did your father forgive the King for turning a blind eye to treachery.  Impa told me that nine years after your father died, the King had secretly pledged his daughter to marry the Gerudo Monster, thinking that would keep the peace.  When your father had lived, Princess Zelda had been pledged by the king to marry _you_.  Your father could have understood her being pledged to any other man after his death, since your continued living was being kept a secret.  But for the King to pledge what was once your birthright to the man who murdered both your father's wives, and would have murdered you had he the chance, was more of an insult than even your father could take from the King, even from the grave!  This brought your father from the grave, and The Duke placed a horrible curse upon the King!

"The Duke's ghost told the King 'You are the most profane of all the Hyleans!  You comforted treachery and damned loyalty!  You befriend the son of evil, and have even pledged your daughter to satisfy its lust!  I curse you with your own evil deeds!  You will die a ghastly death at the hands of Ganondorf!  But before you die, you will see your daughter die in the fire for the love of my son!  You will see your daughter after her first coupling with he to whom you've pledged her!  She will be horribly young by Hylean standards, but you will have willed her to this fate!  You will see the blood from her maidenhead spread across the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room where that deed took place!  Every piece of furniture in the room will be broken, even the chamber pot!  You will see the bruises near her private parts, and the marks of the coupling elsewhere!  She will be so sore that she will not walk right.  She will see into the depths of your black, near-sighted heart and know what you had pledged her to!  She will not forgive you, and you will die un-mourned and almost forgotten!'

"The King was horrified at this curse.  He knew that he had not been wise in his later years, and had allowed himself to easily be deceived by flattery.  He even accepted the justice of the curse as it applied to himself.  But he was truly frightened for his daughter.  It was then that he gave Impa much of the power she had when you met her.  He also had Impa start teaching Zelda the ways of the Sheikah warriors, that she might defend herself.  He was planning on betraying Ganondorf when he came to claim Zelda's hand on her eighteenth birthday, but to keep him placated until then.  He found cause to have Garzo, who was one of Ganondorf's minions, executed, and started to quietly rebuild the Hylean Palace Guard.  Had the King the time he thought, he might have saved Hyrule himself!  But it was not to be.  Were it not for Princess Zelda sending you to save the Sacred Stones, Ganondorf would have taken them for sure.  Even then, had the King been wiser, the day could have been saved. If he had believed Princess Zelda, he should have placed his best section of the Palace Guard at your disposal.  You would not have been able to use them to obtain the Stones, you had to do that yourself.  But, had they been at your disposal, you could have protected The Temple of Time.  You would have at least been warned of his approach, and could have sealed the Door of Time behind you.  Then, despite your having been too young otherwise, _you_ would have obtained the Triforce!  It is getting late; we should talk another time.

"I give you now the hookshot.  It is my greatest treasure.  I hope it will help you save the realm!  And there may yet be hope!  The King is dead these seven years!  But his daughter escaped unharmed and undefiled!  She did not deserve the curse of her father to fall on her head!  Your father would not lift the curse for me while I still lived, and I have been stuck in my tomb these past months since I've been dead.  I haven't figured out how to talk to Arliss yet, though I feel his presence in his tomb.  But surely he will lift the burden from Zelda for you!  Please ask him when next you speak!  Whether he does or not, whether you ask or not, I am at your service, and Hyrule's, for as long as my service may do you good!  Stop by and visit when you have the time!"

"I will… _Captain_!" replied Link.  "But how do you know so much of my travels?  And you just said my father lost _two wives at the hands of Ganondorf?  I only knew of my mother."  _

Dampé replied, "Even after leaving the King's service, I never lost interest in the affairs of the realm.  In fact, I had even more time to ponder them, as tending the Graveyard didn't tax my mind.  Travellers visiting the graves of their ancestors or loved ones would tell me the news of the realm.  Impa also checked on me every once in a while.  She would always tell me of what was going on in the Castle.  Telling me of her problems helped her to think them through and solve them.  The spirits of the dead would also talk to me from time to time.

"When your father was your age now, he had taken a Gerudo for a bride. Ganondorf had her killed for spite!  Arliss didn't learn of Ganondorf's responsibility until after his first great battle, else Ganondorf would have been split like the other enemies of the Kokiri.  The Gerudo didn't learn of the details of how she died either, else _they_ would have deposed him!  But they only heard the story from Arliss, who by that time had been discredited.  So, Ganondorf continued to rule the Gerudo.

"Be careful when you leave!  There is a test to get out of this tomb.  If you are you, you will leave easily, with just a little care not to fall.  If you are one of Ganondorf's minions, sent to trick me, I will have the burden of your company for quite a while!"  Dampé's ghost cackled loudly, then disappeared!  Link walked to the other end of the tomb.  A time block blocked the way.  This block, carved from the living rock by the hand of the soul of time, could only be displaced by the Hero of Time himself.

Navi said "That stone has the same markings on it as on the Door of Time!  Perhaps the Song of Time will open it?"  

Link answered, "That must be Dampé's test.  Rauru said that the Song of Time only worked for me.  If an impostor tried to move this block with the Song of Time, nothing would happen."  

Link played the Song on the Ocarina of Time.  The block disappeared, revealing a stairway whose first step was almost as tall as Link himself.  Link climbed up the first step, then walked up the rest of the stairway.  He found himself on the platform next to the heart platform in the upper part of the windmill.  The rotating platform was just one step away, so he stepped onto it.  As it passed the heart platform, he jumped to it, and claimed the heart container.  He then jumped down, walked across the windmill, and talked to the mad music man again.


	4. The Miller of Kakariko

Chapter 4 

The music box man looked seven years older.  His clothing was in worse repair, and he stank more from poor hygiene.  He was also angry now, as well as insane.  

But it was more surprising how he had not changed.  The villagers were still feeding him.  They were still tending his chamber pot.  He was neither more nor less insane when last Link saw him, seven years ago.  And his strange music box still played the strange music, which fascinated Link even more.  The music seemed even more familiar to him now than it did then.  But he still couldn't quite place where he had heard the music, nor pick up to tune so he could play it later on.  He approached the man, who growled at him!

"Grrr!  I'll never forget the mean ocarina kid who messed up my well!" the man exclaimed.  

Link asked, "Who was this kid, and how did he mess up the well?"  

"I don't know who the kid was.  He had a fairy.  But he was a Hylean child, not an elf-boy!  No green, round ears.  He played a song on his ocarina, which made the windmill spin wildly!  The windmill ran so fast that it pumped the village well dry!  The windmill hasn't run right since!"  

Link asked, "Friend, what was the song the boy played?  I study strange music, and have only heard legends of such a song."  He took out the Ocarina of Time.  

The man exclaimed, "You carry an _ocarina?_  Only elf people and royalty carry those!"  

Link answered, "It's portable, and has a good sound.  It's just the thing for a musician who wants to travel light."  

The music man thought this ironic, for Link's battle gear was hardly the 'light travelling' gear of a troubadour, even in these times!  But he didn't ask more.

He continued, "Fair enough.  I too used to study music, before the kid dried up the well!  Since the well can't possibly get any drier, I guess it will do no harm to teach you the song."  The mad music man taught Link the song by scat-singing it to him, in several pieces.  Once he had learned each piece, it all came together.  The song was almost identical to the one in the mechanical music box!

Link played the 'Song of Storms' through completely on the Ocarina of Time.  It started to storm furiously inside the windmill!  The windmill sped up dramatically.  At this moment, Navi flew out of Link's thoughts, and into plain view!  The music man, who _had_ started to calm down, was now apoplectic!  

"You!  You're the mean Ocarina Kid!  You made me teach you your cursed song you already knew!  You played it again!  The windmill is broken again!  I ought to…"  

But at that moment, his madness disappeared!  He had gone mad because he had coveted the heart container atop the ledge.  None of the villagers had seen the heart, much less known that _it_ was the cause of his madness!  He remembered everything that had happened to him, but now saw it through the eyes of a rational man, not a schizophrenic.

He said "Friend, tarry a moment and enjoy the cleansing rain with me!  You have lifted my madness, which has afflicted me for almost thirteen years.  The heart container you removed when you entered my home and asylum must have been the cause, but I don't know why.  You seem to be familiar with the ways of magic.  Why did that heart drive me mad?  Why did you come here as a boy knowing the 'Song of Storms' to break my windmill, yet have me teach it to you now?  By the way, I am Donald the mill tender.  As a hobby, I've studied music, and made music boxes."  Donald held out his hand.

Link grasped and shook Donald's hand.  He then answered, "I am Link, son of Arliss.  My father put a curse on the heart container, so that I alone might claim it.  As for the playing of the 'Song of Storms,' and draining the well, I can only tell you that it was necessary to save Kakariko, and Hyrule from total destruction!"  

Donald replied, "Then I deserved my madness after all!  Dampé asked me to let him hide that heart container on that ledge here in the mill.  He said the rightful owner would be along in a few years to pick it up.  Dampé was an old friend of my family, so I let him do this.  But, as the years passed by, I began to want that heart container for myself!  I had finally resolved that Dampé's friend would never come.  I had just returned from entertaining the children in the streets of the village, and was going to get a ladder to claim the heart container.  I looked up at it, and have been imprisoned by madness from that moment to just now!  I am now doubly in your debt!  First, I wronged you by plotting to steal your legacy!  Then, you save me from the punishment for my dishonesty!"  Another wave of recognition hit Donald.  He kneeled close to the ground and said "Your Majesty!  Please accept my humble apology and thanks!"

Link answered, "Arise friend!  I am not King!  Princess Zelda lives as yet!  At most, I would be Regent of the Hyleans, as well as the Duke of Hyrule.  I would ask that you don't proclaim who I am to anyone yet!  It is still too early to rally the people to my side!  If they gather behind me, it will only make them more convenient targets for Ganondorf!  

"The people of the village will also need to accept your no longer being mad!  Most of them believe that I was murdered along with my mother.  They would not be convinced of what is plain to you even if you had never been mad!  I must travel from here.  I wish you good fortune, Donald!"  

Donald got up quickly, and shook Link's hand again.  He answered, "Go with fortune, my lord!  The realm is counting on you!  By the way, you should see my old friend Dampé!  He had a grappling…" Donald saw the hookshot hanging from Link's belt.  He said, "You've _seen_ Dampé!  How is he?  Would he survive the shock of 'Mad Man Don' visiting him sane?"  

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, Donald.  Dampé passed on a just over a month after last Samhain.  His ghost gave me the hookshot as a prize for keeping up with him in a race through his tomb!"  

"You are indeed a man of magic, my lord!  I feel the truth of what you've just told me!  Yet even I would have thought such things impossible before I was struck mad by the protective curse of your legacy!  Again, go with fortune, my lord!"  

Link answered "and again to you, Donald!"  Link and Navi left the windmill.  They looked up at the sky.  It was almost noon!  Navi said "Link, we will make it to Lon-Lon ranch easily enough, but we will never make it back before dark!  We need to get the pocket cucco egg now!"  

Link answered as they walked to the cucco lady "I agree, Navi.  Hopefully, it travels more easily than the one Malon gave me years ago.  I still don't know how I kept it alive to hatch!"  They walked up to the cucco lady.

She had grown a little more mature since last they met, but being only sixteen then, was still a young woman.  Strangely, she recognized Link right away.  "Hello again, Link!" she said.  "I haven't seen you around for a while."  

Link answered "I've been busy elsewhere, ma'am.  How's the cucco business been?"  

She answered "Great!  I've developed a new breed of cucco!  I'm not allergic to these cuccos!  They are smaller than normal cuccos, but are perfect for laying eggs and waking people!  In fact, the harder to wake a person is, the happier these cuccos are when they wake them!  I'd like you to borrow one if you would.  My cuccos haven't been happy, because I can't find any heavy sleepers to wake with them.  With the way you travel, you should find some heavy sleepers easily!  Would you do this for me?"

Link answered, "I'd be happy to!  In fact, I think I'll find a heavy sleeper tomorrow morning!"  

"You do?  If you're sure, I can give you an egg that's due to hatch just before dawn tomorrow!  If the first sleeper they wake is a really heavy sleeper, they stay happy for all of their lives!"  

"That would be perfect" Link replied.  "I know just the sleeper.  He's an old friend of mine, and will be just as happy as the cucco that I've awakened him with."  

"Great!" the lady answered.  She took an egg out of a nesting box, and wrapped it in deku leaves.  "These deku leaves will keep the egg warm enough with just your body heat.  They will also protect the egg.  When you feel it rustle and hear it cluck, it has hatched."

Link accepted the egg, and put it in the inside pocket of his tunic.  "Thank you, young maiden!" he said.  "I will have you check the hatchling tomorrow morning!"  He left the lady, and walked briskly to the Hyrule Field Stairway.  He and Navi ran down the stairs.  They ran to the Hylia River, swam it, and continued to run.  It took them almost an hour to reach Lon-Lon ranch.


	5. To Redeem a Horse

Chapter 5 

As they walked up the hill to the ranch, nothing appeared to have changed, at first!  But there seemed to be a sound missing among the sounds of farm animals, and the light breeze blowing through the trees and rooftops.  Link realized that Talon's snoring was the missing sound.  Even knowing what his father told him, it was still a surprise.  Link first went to the cucoo coop, which butted on to the house.  The coop was completely empty!  Not only was there no Talon, but there were no cuccos!  He then went across the path to the stable.  He found Malon there, tending to some of the horses and cows.

Link entered the stable to find Malon cleaning a stall, and almost crying.  He asked "What's wrong, Malon?"  

She turned around, startled.  "Who are you?  Do you ride for Ganondorf?  Or are you just a traveller?"  

Link answered, "I'm a friend to you and your father.  If you don't remember me, that's fine.  But you were saddened almost to the point of tears when I walked in to the stable.  And I haven't heard your father's snoring, which is odd because he normally napped at this time of day.  What's wrong, Malon?"

She answered, "Friend, if that's what you are, you are most perceptive."  She looked at him for the first time.  She almost recognized him, but not quite.  "You do look familiar, friend!  I don't forget a face, yet I don't remember yours.  But I know I've seen you before, and that you are a friend.  Have you been travelling long?"  

Link answered "I've been away from this part of the realm for several years.  I've returned to find that times have truly become strange."  

Malon replied, "Yes, they have!

"Two months ago, Ganondorf helped Ingovard steal the ranch from my father!  Dad was forced to leave here, and he moved to Kakariko Village.  I would have left too, but I'm afraid for the animals!  Ingo is a good rancher, but he has no heart anymore!  He's casually cruel to the horses, cows, and other animals.  I've stayed on so far to try and curb Ingo's worst instincts.  But I have to do _exactly_ as 'Mr. Ingo' says!  If I disobey 'Mr. Ingo,' he will treat the horses so badly…" She broke out in tears.  Link let her cry on his shoulder without saying anything for several minutes.

She recovered herself and said, "I'm sorry to be so bold with you, sir!  But I'm at my wit's end!  I love my dad, and I feel I shouldn't stay here!  But I feel responsible to our animals, too!  And if I leave…" 

Link answered, "I would have been hurt if you _hadn't been 'bold' with me, Malon.  But I have already heard of Ingo's treachery!  I came here to touch his heart.  Your dad will return here late tomorrow morning, and the ranch will once again be his!"  Malon looked at him in shock!  Link continued.  "No, I am neither mad, nor a boaster.  And I will not __hurt Ingovard!  But his treachery stinks to the heavens!  I will not let it stand.  Don't worry—I will not fail you."_

Malon looked at him again closely.  She said, "Traveller, looks can be deceiving.  But you _look_ like a man who does exactly what he says he will do!  Please be this man.  Don't let him hurt Dad or my horses again!  You will find him at the corral!  He's trying to groom my horse as a gift to Ganondorf."  

Link asked "Has he promised the horse to Ganondorf?"  

She answered, "I don't think so."  

Link replied "Good.  It wouldn't stop me if he had, but it would have made things more difficult.  Thank you, Malon!"  

She answered "If you do what you say, it is I who must thank _you, friend.  Go with fortune."  Link left the stable and walked to the corral._

Ingo was standing by the gate to the corral.  He looked seven years older, which was to be expected.  His receding hairline had receded further, leaving him almost completely bald on the top of his head.  But it was the clothes he wore that made him look truly comical.  

He was dressed as a nobleman might dress to go see the King!  No one would dress like that to work on a farm.  He wore a starched ruffled collar, a blue shirt with gold brocade on the sleeves, a crimson sleeveless tunic, and white tights.  His black boots were so highly shined that it was obvious that he had _never worked while wearing them!  When he had seen Ingo seven years ago, the man had thrived on running the ranch, though his heart was bitter from Talon's laziness and lack of gratitude.  But now, he was a fop, and almost a pansy!_

Link walked up to Ingo and said "Sir, I'm interested in horses.  I've heard this ranch raises fine ones.  Would you be the owner?"  

Ingo answered, "Yes.  I am Ingovard.  I've just taken over the ranch recently, but have run it for several years before that."  

Link said, "I am Link.  I've heard of this ranch, but I thought the owner was Talon."  

Ingo replied huffily "There are some people in Kakariko spreading rumours that I cheated Talon out of the ranch, but the great Ganondorf himself recognized my hard work and that it was I who ran the ranch!  _He_ took the ranch out of Talon's hand, and placed it in mine!

"To keep you from spreading these lies yourself, I will let you ride the horses for a while.  But it will cost you ten rupees!"  

Link felt anger starting to well up in his soul.  Navi told him silently "Pay the money, Link!  You'll show him up soon enough!"  

Link answered Navi "I'd like to cut him down where he stands, what right has _he_ to run this place as a livery stable?"

Navi replied "None.  But he can't see that!  You must open his eyes, Link."  

Link told Ingo "Sir, I would be grateful to ride one of your horses."  Link gave Ingo ten rupees.  

Ingo asked, "Do you know how to ride, Link?"  

He answered "Yes, sir.  Thank you."  Link entered the corral and walked up to the nearest horse that was saddled.

He asked Navi "Do _you_ know how to ride?"  

She answered, "What would you do if I didn't?"  Link started to get nervous.  Navi continued.  "I know how, Link!  Steady yourself.  The harness the horse wears on its head is called the bridle.  The piece of metal on the bridle that is in the horse's mouth is called the bit.  The leather straps attached to the bit are the reins.  You sit on the saddle, which is the seat tied to the horse's back.  The blanket underneath the saddle is the saddle blanket.  The horn on the front of the saddle is the saddle horn.  The things hanging down from the saddle are the stirrups; you put your feet in those.  Walk to the horse's left side."

Link did this, and Navi continued.  "Grab the reins in your left hand, then place your left hand on the saddle horn."  Link did this.  She said "Place your left foot into the stirrup, and climb onto the horse, placing your right foot in the right stirrup."  Link did this.  Navi said "I'll help you control the horse at first.  Don't do anything yet.  To make the horse go, kick both feet back.  To make the horse turn to the left or right, put more pressure on the side of the horse you want to turn to with your knee, pull the reins to that direction, or both.  To make the horse go faster, slap its rump with your hand, or slap its side with the end loop of the reins.  To make the horse stop, pull back evenly on the reins.  As you get more skilled with reading hearts, you will be able to control a horse with just your mind.  But if you tell it to do something in its mind, and tell it to do something different through the ordinary ways of controlling it, it will become confused!  A horse's mind is simple.  If you confuse it, you will scare it, and it could do almost anything except what you want it to!

"Ok, Link.  Lean your weight forward just a little, and make the horse walk forward."  Link was startled when the horse started walking briskly, but managed to hide his astonishment from Ingo, who watched from the gate.  "Good, Link.  Make the horse turn left with your knee."  Link did this.  Navi said, "Now make it turn right with your knee."  Link did this.  The fairy said, "Now, ride to the left and right with your reins."  Once Link did this, she said, "Now, make it stop."  Link was already sensing the animal's mind.  He pulled just hard enough on the reins, and the horse stopped quickly.  Link was put slightly off-balance by the horse's stopping, but hid this from Ingo.  

Navi said "Good!  Now, take off at a full gallop!"  Link took off and was exhilarated!  He rode to the left, the right, then rode a lap around the corral!  As he approached Ingo, the rebellious stable-hand said "Time's up, Link!"  

Link rode up to Ingo, and dismounted in reverse of how he mounted the horse.  He said, "I should like to ride for a while longer, sir.  Is the price for more time ten rupees?"  Ingo answered, "For you, sir, I'll accept that!"

Link paid Ingo the money, then he walked back toward the first horse.  Navi said "Call Epona now, Link."  Link took the Ocarina of Time and played 'Epona's Song.'  Epona ran to Link at a full gallop from the other end of the coral.  Link hadn't even noticed her before; he was so intent on his first riding lesson!  

Navi said, "You did good figuring out how to dismount on your own, Link!  Remember that if you try to mount or dismount a horse the wrong way, it will get scared and throw you!  Mount Epona as you did the other horse."  He did this.  He noticed that Epona felt stronger than the other horse.  Her mind was also more open to Link's reading it.  Navi said, "She's _your_ horse, Link!  She will always be more open to you than a strange horse!  Ride a lap of the corral with her."  He did this, noticing that Epona was _much_ faster than the other horse.  

As he came around back to the gate, Navi said "See that fence over there Link?"  

He answered "Sure, Navi.  Why did they put those short pieces of fence in the middle of the corral?"  

She said, "Those are to practice jumping, Link!  Ride to the nearest one and jump it.  To jump, ride straight at the fence.  If you approach at too much of an angle, the horse will stop!  As you get real close, get the horse running as fast as it can!  It will jump the fence on its own."  

Link rode straight at the fence.  Navi said, "Speed up, _now!_"  Link accelerated to full gallop, and they jumped the fence easily.  

Link was even more excited than he was on the first horse!  He exclaimed silently "Navi, this is great fun!"  

She answered "Yes, but it's also serious business!

"Accelerate to full gallop, and keep urging Epona on."  Link did this, and felt her tire.  He felt as she slowed down, got another wind, and speeded up a little again.  

Navi said, "Feel how she got winded?  You need to feel when you are pushing her too hard, and not push her as much!  If you urge her forward a little less, she will keep running faster!  If you need that last burst of speed, it's there.  But only ask that of her at the end of a run, when you really need that extra burst of speed.  Now, we are ready to challenge Ingo.  Ride up to him, and he will challenge us."  Link rode up to Ingovard.

Ingo said, "You seem to be quite a rider!  How would you like to race me around the corral?"  

Link answered "Certainly, sir!  I'd be glad to."  

Ingo continued.  "Let's make a little wager, say… fifty rupees?"  

Link answered "Of course."  

Ingo whistled, and a third saddled horse galloped up.  Link could tell that this was Ingovard's regular mount.  The horse, unlike the others, was not afraid of him.  Ingo had not mistreated this one!  He could also tell it was a powerful horse, but not nearly as powerful as Epona.

Ingo said, "Since this is my ranch, I'll let you have the inside.  I'll start us."  The two lined up even with the east post of the corral gate, Link on the inside.  Ingo shouted, "On your mark, get set, go!"  The two riders took off at full gallop!  Ingo tried to crowd Link and Epona into the fence of the corral.  But Link out-accelerated Ingo, and got in front of him.  Epona felt like she had energy to spare!  He patted her rump just enough, and kept her two to three horse-lengths in front of Ingo.  By the time they had finished their one clockwise lap of the corral, they had won by four lengths!  Ingo was furious, and embarrassed!

He howled in frustration!  He then said, "If the great Ganondorf ever found out about this humiliation…  Hey, you!  How about another race!  If you win…  You can keep… the horse!"  

Link replied sarcastically, "Ok.  I wouldn't have you lose face with the great Ganondorf."  Ingo failed to recognize Link's scorn, and remounted his horse.  They lined up again and this time Ingo not only started them again, but gave himself a one-length lead!

Link was furious!  He drew the Master Sword and rode not to win, but to cut Ingo out of the saddle one piece at a time!  Navi had to think fast—she couldn't allow Link to kill Ingo, or lose the race!  She clouded Link's mind, which was already difficult for her as strong as Link had become!  She made him think he was controlling Epona, but controlled the horse herself.  She made him see Ingovard in the lead, even when he had passed Ingo, riding like the wind with sword drawn and murder in his heart!  She opened Link's eyes again only as they crossed the finish line, six lengths ahead!  

She said silently "Link!  Sheathe your sword, you've won!"  He was surprised.  She continued, "I couldn't let you kill Ingo!  He _must live, whether he deserves to, or not!"  He sheathed the sword and cantered up to an even more humiliated Ingovard._

The stable-hand looked at the horse Link was riding.  "What's up with that horse?  Is that _Epona?_" he said in shock.  

He exclaimed, "How did you tame that wild horse under my nose?  I was going to present that horse to the great Ganondorf!  But I bet it on the race and lost!  _Shooot!"  Ingo thought for a moment then laughed!  _

He said smugly, "As I promised, I'll give the horse to you.  However, I'll never let you leave this ranch!"  Before Link could say anything, Ingovard closed a set of iron gates that ran between the stable and the ranch house.  As Ingo turned to go in the house Link drew the Master Sword again and said, "Wait, brigand!"  At this, Ingovard turned around.

Link said, "You once could have become a real Knight!  But instead, you've become a fake brigand, and a pawn of the beast!  You prance around in the suit of clothes your boss wore when he was married!  You give orders, and push around a young maiden, whose father you defrauded!  You act like you could run a ranch, when you can no longer even dress yourself, much less tend to the animals in your charge!

"Your life has already been spared once this day.  It would be inconvenient for me to deal with you now.  But I shall return in a few days time!  Perhaps the keese will be hungrier then, that they may dine sumptuously on a fat traitor!"  

Link wheeled about, and charged the west wall of the ranch at full-gallop!  Navi exclaimed silently, "Link, you should practice first!"  

He answered in kind, "I will, Navi.  I'll jump the wall for practice.  Then, If I'm still in the ranch, I'll jump it again for real!"  As the reached the wall, Link urged Epona on even faster!  She responded by giving Link every bit of reserve she had!  She easily cleared the wall, and landed smoothly in Hyrule field, in spite of the fact that on the outside the wall was almost double the height it was inside!  She then slowed down to catch her breath.  Link slowed her down to a walk and headed her toward the stone bridge.

Ingovard watched the stranger wheel about and jump the west wall as if it were a short fence.  He had tried it himself several times, and was _never_ able to do it.  He knew of only one other person who _could_ do that.  He was suddenly gripped with terror!  And it was not a fear of Ganondorf!  He was glad that he hadn't actually _told Ganondorf that he would give him __any horse, much less Epona!  But the stranger who jumped the wall was no ordinary traveller!  This horseman rode like his old liege-lord, the Duke of Hyrule, and as much as said that he would kill him!  _

Ingovard then took to heart the words the stranger said.  He had been horribly wrong in what he did, and Talon's ingratitude was no excuse!  He collapsed on the ground, struck by a wave of remorse over old oaths broken and old friends betrayed.  He begged the fates for a chance; just _one_ chance to make amends for what he had done.

Link asked "Navi?  Where will we keep Epona, when I go where I can't ride her?"  

Navi answered "She is a strong horse, even slightly enchanted, like her owner.  Take good and proper care of her when you have the time.  But she's strong enough that she will be fine out in Hyrule field, at least for the time it takes to liberate the realm!  If she gets that ill, she can be healed by a healing fairy while you ride her."

Link rode at a slow easy gallop to Kakariko Village.  He dismounted at the base of the stairs, and petted Epona on the side of the neck.  She nuzzled him affectionately.  He said, "You're a good girl, and a strong one."  The horse sensed Link's affection and concern, and enjoyed it.  Link wanted to tend better to the horse.  But he had just enough time to get the blue fire before the potion shop closed.


	6. A Respite Among Friends

Chapter 6 

Link ran up the stairs back into Kakariko Village just before sunset.  He ran to the north stairway, climbed it, and ran to the potion shop.  He opened the door just as the shopkeeper was about to lock it.  The shopkeeper asked, "Friend, is there something I can do for you?"  

Link answered, "Yes.  I need to buy a bottle of blue fire.  Do you carry that?"  The shopkeeper answered, "Yes.  It's three hundred rupees a bottle, and you must have the bottle with you."  Link replied "I have the money and the bottle with me.  I need to buy the potion immediately!  Can you help me please, sir?"  The shopkeeper was amazed by the sense of urgency of the man, yet also his courtesy.  He answered "Of course."

The shopkeeper let Link into the shop.  Link noted in his mind the hallway that led to the back door, the one he would need to use tomorrow.  Link paid the shopkeeper, and handed him his empty bottle.  As the shopkeeper counted the money, he asked Link "Kind traveller, do you know what blue fire is used for?"  

Link answered "Yes, sir.  It is used to melt red ice, which can't be melted otherwise, even with Din's Fire."  

The shopkeeper said "You must truly be in a hurry then, sir.  I charge so much for the stuff because it's next to impossible for me to get.  Unlike most potions, it comes forth from fountains in frozen lands.  Most people who truly have a use for it also know of these fountains, and get their own."  

Link replied, "I am in a hurry, as you've guessed sir.  I don't have the luxury of finding such a fountain.  I am grateful that I was able to find a shop that sold it."  

The shopkeeper told Link "And I sir am glad that someone bought it.  I have so little call for it, I had thought of not selling it at all."

The shopkeeper finished filling the bottle, capped it, and handed it to Link.  Link said, "Thank you, sir.  Tomorrow morning, I will need to visit your neighbour to the back.  May I use the hallway to your back door then?"  

The shopkeeper answered "Of course, sir!  Granny doesn't get too much business, or company.  Most of her visitors are rude, just barging through.  Sometimes, they even get angry with me if I'm late opening my door in the morning!"  

Link replied "I thank you in advance for your hospitality, sir.  When I actually come through, I will be in a great hurry, and may seem rude as well.  I apologize in advance for this." 

The shopkeeper replied "Fair enough, friend.  You must truly be a devoted student of the ways of magic!  Most people don't even know Granny's Potion Shop exists, though it has been here since Kakariko Village itself was built." 

He replied "Thank you, sir.  I must be going, and I've already taken too much of your time."  

As the shopkeeper let Link out of the shop, he answered "Thank you again, kind traveller.  Go with fortune."  Link walked down the north street, and down the north stairway.  He walked to the counting house.

Link looked up at the House of Jardain almost in awe.  What had seemed just a way for Jardain to keep his sons from being idle or depressed by the lingering effects of the curse on him and their two brothers was now in fact a thriving counting house, at least by outside appearances.  The windows, once boarded over crudely by superstitious Sheikah neighbours, now had proper shutters over them, and during the day, they were even open!  He could see the three sons, now almost middle-aged, tending to their ledgers, as the last customer had left a few minutes ago.  Arthur even had a wife sharing his life with him, judging by the way that the woman helping him carried herself.  But how did John and Richard fare these seven years?  What about Jardain himself, did he still live?  Was he still cursed?  Whether they recognized him or not, he had to know.

He walked up to the door of the house.  The sign said, "Closed, come back tomorrow."  But the door was still open.  He knocked, and entered.  The entryway was now a lobby, well lighted during the day by the sunlight coming in through the windows.  The main room was also much brighter.  The walls and ceiling were now plastered in white, save for three holes up into the rafters.  Sunlight did _not penetrate up to those holes, for the comfort of those who still dwelled there.  Louis and Edgar worked at their ledgers.  The woman was also at a ledger, having just finished recording a letter of credit.  Arthur stood at the counter, but didn't look up yet._

Arthur spoke.  "Friend, we have just closed for the day.  If you require help that cannot wait until the morrow, we will help you.  If you mean to rob us, you have made a horrible mistake.  Not even Ganondorf's minions have tried to rob us—and lived!"  As he said this, his brothers and wife closed the shutters, darkening the room.  

Link said "I require no help, friend, and have no need for what isn't mine.  I visit to inquire about your health and family.  I helped your family seven years ago, but not nearly as well as I would have liked…"

At this, Arthur looked up.  He looked closely at the Hylean teenager who stood in his lobby.  He would swear that he had never seen the traveller before, yet he looked familiar.  The traveller carried a Hylean Guard shield on his back, but this was not so uncommon in these times.  The Hylean Guard itself ceased to exist years ago, yet their shields were still quite good.  He then noticed the traveller carried his sword on his back in the manner of the Kokiri, not on his side like anyone else.  He knew of only one other person who wore a sword like that.  When Navi appeared, all doubt was removed.  Arthur spoke again.

"My Lord, it is a pleasure to see you again!"  Link answered, "You know who I am, Arthur?"  Arthur answered "Yes, Your Lordship.  You told me.  How much do you know of how you live time?"  

"I know I don't live time like anyone else"  

"No, Your Lordship, you don't.  On your orders, I can't tell you much, but must tell you this.  You may deposit curse-tokens only in this time, and the size you are now!  If you deposit in any other way, there will be horrible consequences!  Otherwise, my brothers and I are still eternally at your service, and our house is as yours."

Link said "Thank you, Arthur.  I will need a place to spend part of the night.  I will leave before dawn."  

Arthur replied "I will be happy to have you again as a guest.  My wife is new, but she tends her kitchen and our books with equal skill!  She hasn't burned a meal or mis-added an account yet!"  

She blushed at this, and said "Thank you, Arthur.  You flatter me again, as usual."  She said to Link "I am Susana, my lord!  Arthur and I have only been married for a few short months.  But, for your having freed him from the curse, I am also eternally in your debt!"

Susana brought food up from the basement kitchen.  John, Richard, and Jardain himself dropped down from their attic lairs, to share in the conversation.  They sat down to dinner, and made small talk.  They retired early that night, sensing that Link was tired.  He slept dreamlessly, until Jardain woke him before dawn.

"Wake up, my lord!" Jardain said.  

Link awoke and said "Good morning, Jardain."  

The giant spider answered "And to you, my lord!"  

Link said "I haven't forgotten you, friend.  I'll free you and the rest of your sons as soon as I can."  

Jardain answered, "It is kind of you to do this.  I know that you have more important things to do…"  

"But that doesn't make your plight less important to me, Jardain!  I now know _why you have suffered these many years!  I wouldn't have you cursed for __my sake!  I'm just grateful that I may be able to lift the curse from you."  _

Jardain was moved beyond words.  Link said, "I must be going now, friend."  

Jardain answered, "Go with fortune, my lord."  Link left Jardain's house, to deliver the wake-up call _he needed to make.   _


	7. Of Children Lost and Found

Chapter 7 

Link quickly crossed the village common, and entered the small inn house where Talon had been staying the past two months.  The house was a single room affair, measuring forty feet square.  It was occupied and run by a husband and wife.  The lodgings were very simple.  Curtains separated each bed from the others.  The guests took their meals in common with the innkeeper and his wife, or ate at the tavern down the way.  They voided themselves in a common chamber pot, and washed in a common bowl, if they washed at all.  For in these times, only Kokiri and nobility bathed with any frequency.

Link knew the sound of Talon's snoring without question.  He walked to the bed in the corner furthest from the door, pulled the curtains aside, and pulled the pocket cucco chick from out of his tunic.  He held the chick over Talon, and it crowed loudly!  Talon sat up with a start, and exclaimed, "What in tarnation?  Can't a person get a little shut-eye around here?"  

Link answered, "Not _this_ morning, groomsman!  For I have returned Lon-Lon Ranch to your hand!  Malon is safe, and waiting for you!  Ingovard has been chastised severely in his treachery!  He will no longer burden or betray you, but only do the work you bid him do!"  The rancher looked at Link in utter amazement!  

He said, "How am I to believe you?"  

Link answered, "I have no time to go about boasting of false stories!  If you seek your proof, go to Lon-Lon!  At the foot of the Kakariko Steps, you will find your daughter's wild horse!  It will not come to you, or mind you!  But I rode that horse here!  Your daughter presented me with that horse when we were both children, and I've now claimed it!"

Talon looked at Link and decided the young warrior was telling the truth!  He _had to be!  Talon believed that Malon was Ingovard's prisoner, and in a way, she was.  He didn't care about the loss of the ranch.  But he was horrified at what might happen to Malon!  Talon was not a complicated man.  He was at the last measure of desperation, and he seized upon Link's words as a drowning man would on a life-ring!  _

Talon exclaimed, "Did _you_ save _Malon_?"  Link nodded in answer.  The groomsman exclaimed, "Thanks!  I'm goin' back to the ranch, then!  Yeehah!"  Malon quickly pulled on his boots and left!  He was in such a hurry that he didn't bother to collect his other suit of clothes, having worn one set minus the boots to sleep in.  He was out of the door in less than a minute!

The innkeeper and his wife were also awakened by the commotion.  It took the innkeeper a minute or two to work up the courage to approach the young sword-carrying man.  But the idea of having a stranger invade his inn and his house, even in _these_ times had him furious!  He approached Link and said, "Kind stranger.  We don't normally like to be awakened at the crack of dawn.  My wife and I are even more offended when our guests are run off without paying what they owe!"  

Link replied, "What does Talon owe?"  

The innkeeper answered, "I was boarding him as charity after what Ganondorf had done to him.  But he would have owed three hundred rupees!"  

Link reached into his moneybags.  He had three hundred eighty rupees on him between his two moneybags.  He wished that he had drawn some rupees from his accounts with Arthur before he'd left that morning.

He drew three hundred fifty rupees from his moneybags and handed it to the innkeeper.  Link said, "Here's what Talon owed you.  I will not take charity!  I'm giving you fifty rupees more to deliver the rest of Talon's belongings to Lon-Lon ranch!  If that isn't enough, please let me know!"  But as Link handed the innkeeper the money, he dropped a gold curse-spider token on the floor.  Link thought to himself, "Damn!  I thought I had deposited that with Arthur!"  He reached down and picked up the token.  But the innkeeper _saw the large token, and recognized it for what it was!  _

He said haltingly, "Stranger, how did you come by that golden spider?"  

Link answered, "It's none of your concern, but I took it from the bosom of a curse-spider for Jardain and his sons."

The innkeeper was terrified!  He breathlessly asked Link, "Kind sir, would you know the Duke of Hyrule?"  

Link was starting to lose patience.  He answered sharply, "Does any man really know his father, sir?  Take your tariff and be done with it!"  

The innkeeper dropped to the floor and grovelled before Link saying, "I meant no offence, your Majesty!  Please, have mercy!"  Link was startled!  But he realized what he had to do.  He reached down and gently touched the man's shoulder.  He said, "Kind innkeeper, I took no offence.  I'm only in a hurry because of what I must attend to!  And I'm still only a duke.  Zelda lives as yet!"

The innkeeper stood up relieved!  He said, "My lord, thank you!  Your appetite and desire for a bed are good here, and those of your riders.  But your money is not!  We owe it to you to help however we can!  When Ganondorf destroyed Hyrule Castle Town, he ruined my fortune, and killed my son!  _Anything_ I can do to bring justice upon the Beast's head will be a duty and a pleasure!  I am Alois, son of Uther.  My wife is Matilda.  Would his lordship care to break fast with us?"  

Link replied, "Alois, I've already broken fast, and I'm short of time.  But I will break fast with you another time.  And you will take my money!  Save the worry for his daughter, Talon knew no privation while he boarded with you!  I insist you know no privation either."

Alois collected the rupees from the floor where he dropped them and said, "Thank you, my lord!  May fortune ride always with you!"  Link collected the pocket cucco and replied, "And may it stay with you, Alois."  Link walked to the door, and left the inn.

He walked briskly across the village common, and up the stairs to the House of Jardain.  He knocked on the door, and entered.  Arthur met him at the door, surprised that Link was returning so soon.  He asked, "Did you forget something, my lord?"  

Link answered, "Yes.  I forgot to deposit this with you."  He handed Arthur the curse-spider he had dropped in the inn.  Arthur said, "Of course.  Is there anything else, my lord?"  

Link answered, "Yes, two things.  First, I need to draw out two hundred rupees."  Louis quickly handed two hundred rupees to Arthur, who handed them to Link.  Link said, "The second is, Thank you again for being so patient."  

Arthur replied, "You're welcome, my lord."  

Louis added, "We owe you _our lives, _my lord!  Whatever we can do to help you is only a small payment on that debt!"  

Link said, "I must leave.  Go with fortune, friends."  

Arthur answered, "And you, my lord."

Link left the counting house, and walked to the cuccoo coop.  The lady who tended the cuccos was just arriving.  She said, "Good Morning, Link.  Did you find your heavy sleeper?"  

She was pleasantly surprised when he answered, "Yes.  See for yourself."  He handed the lady the young hatchling.  It clucked in her hands with utter contentment!  She said, "Amazing!  You must have had this chick awaken a statue!"  

Link replied, "No.  Just a _very heavy sleeper!"_

She said, "You're a great cucco keeper!  I'll give you a rare, valuable cucco, if you're interested.  His name is Cojiro.  He used to be my brother's cucco.  Cojiro's blue body is quite charming.  He's so cute!"  She set the young chick in the pen, and called, "Cojiro!  Here, chick, chick, chick!"  A small blue rooster hopped over to her, and she picked it up.  She handed the bird to Link.

She said, "Since my brother has gone, it's strange, but Cojiro has stopped crowing.  Do you want to keep him?"  

Link answered, "Yes, and thank you!  He is cute!  And I'm sure I'll enjoy his company, whether he crows or not."  He gently put the bird in his jacket, and it went to sleep.  

He said, "I need to travel.  May fortune stay with you!"  

She answered, "Go with fortune, Link!"  He walked quickly to the Kakariko steps and ran down them to where he left Epona standing.

Epona waited patiently for him.  She was fine, but she had a red rag tied to her saddle horn.  Link looked at the horn and asked silently, "What's this, Navi?"  

The fairy answered, "Talon checked on Epona, Link.  He's illiterate, and had nothing to leave a note with, even if he could write!  But that is the rag he used to wipe the sweat from his brow."  Link mounted Epona, and rode to the Lost Woods Bridge.

He rode like the wind, without thought or word.  He was apprehensive at what he knew he would find.  For this was the land of his youth, and his people!  The Forest, above all of Hyrule, was the place most honoured and loved in his heart.  The ride took over an hour and a half to complete, even at full gallop!  He quickly dismounted, just steps from the Lost Woods Bridge.  He ran into the woods.  As he crossed the bridge, Cojiro crowed loudly!  Navi said, "Cojiro senses his old keeper!"

Link entered the village.  At first it appeared unchanged since he had last been there.  But there were no Kokiri to greet him!  A Deku Baba pounced on him from his right.  A quick swing of the Master Sword silenced the evil flower.  Navi exclaimed, "We have no time to fight!  We have to find the brother!"  Link turned to his left, and jumped up onto the ledge leading up to the Lost Woods.  He climbed up the vines on the next ledge, as he and Saria had done so many times.  He ran up the start of the path.  A mad deku scrub waited in ambush as he turned the corner to the top ledge overlooking the Kokiri Village.  But Link ran so fast that the monster didn't have time to fire a shot!  Link quickly wheeled to his right and entered the Lost Woods!

He ran to the first clearing, and turned left, like he was going to visit the Skull Kid.  He entered the Skull Kid's clearing, and he found Cojiro's keeper, leaned up against the tall stump the Skull Kid was fond of dancing upon.  The half Sheikah half Nipponese man, who was only in his late twenties, looked at least forty years older than that!  Link ran to him.  The Hero of Time said, "Hey, friend?"  The carpenter's son continued to sleep.  Link took Cojiro out of his tunic and held the bird over the man's head.  Cojiro crowed loudly, waking the man up!  The carpenter's son looked up, and Link handed the cucco to him.  He told the carpenter's son, "I believe this cucco is yours."

The carpenter's son was ecstatic with having Cojiro again!  But he was also declining horribly.  He said, almost talking to himself at first, "Cojiro?  Why?  Normally only a nice guy like me can tame you.  Which means…"  He looked up at Link and said, "You…  You must be a nice guy!  Must be!  You must be!  Please Mr. Nice Guy!  Please!  Deliver this stuff to the old woman in the potion shop in Kakariko Village!  This stuff will disappear if you take too long, so you gotta hurry!"  He handed Link a large Dove Mushroom!  Then, Link realized _why_ the young man was aged so badly.  The Curse of the Lost Woods had him in its grip!  His legs were already paralysed, so he couldn't walk!  It was only by luck that he even found the Dove Mushroom!

The Dove Mushroom was called that because it could be made into a potion healing the Curse of the Lost Woods… _if_ the potion was taken in time!  Otherwise, the victim would become a Stalfos, cursed to wander the woods forever in war gear, until it was broken with cold steel!  And, even though Link had the strength to carry the man with him, it was out of the question.  For attempting to leave the Forest once the curse took hold would only make it work much more quickly; Link would hold a Stalfos in his very arms ere he mounted his horse if he were fool-hardy enough to try!

Link asked, "How did this happen to you?"  

The carpenter's son answered, "I came to the woods from time to time to escape my melancholy.  I felt so bad because everyone I knew except my sister and grandmother was repulsive to me!   Even my mother and father disgusted me!  But the last time, I fell asleep here!  I woke up, and couldn't find my way out!  My legs quit working only this morning, and I've been here for months!"  

Link said, "I know of your grandmother's potion shop!  I'll ride there right now!  Just outside of these woods, I have the fastest horse in the realm!  And I was raised in these woods!  I'll _never lose my way.  But you must stay awake!  Think happy thoughts, and keep your strength up until I return with the potion!"_

There was no time to waste!  Link ran out of the clearing, but ran to the south, not the east!  He ran into the next clearing, which overlooked the Lost Woods Bridge itself!  Saria had had him plant two magic beans in the Lost Woods, before he left for that fateful encounter with Ganondorf!  He came upon one of them now!  It, like its sibling in the Kakariko Graveyard, was the size of a large tavern round table, but barely came up to his ankle.  He stepped onto the edge of the magic plant, and it quickly took off!  It carried him across the clearing, and over the Lost Woods Bridge!  Link jumped down to the bridge, and ran out into Hyrule Field!

Epona waited patiently right where Link left her.  He mounted the horse, and rode like the wind to the Kakariko Village steps!  Epona sensed the urgency of their ride, and took fifteen minutes off of the trip!  Link dismounted with a jump, and landed on the stairway itself!  He sprinted up the steps and into the Village Common.  He ran to his left, ran up the stairway to the north, and ran to the potion shop!  He quickly entered and ran through, saying "Hello!" to the shopkeeper and nothing more!  He ran out the back door, and jumped to his right, rolling to break his fall.  He ran to the steps leading to the door of Granny's Potion Shop and sprinted up them!  He turned to his right again, opened the door without knocking, and entered the shop!

The potion shop was one room, forty feet to each side.  But only the half closest to the door was open.  The rest of the shop was closed off to public view by a long counter, and a curtain behind that.  No sunlight entered the building.  Two magic torches illuminated the room from behind the counter.  The floor was covered with a fibre mat, with a runner rug leading from the door to the counter.  The walls and the front of the counter were covered in parchment or velum, with a design of alternating red bamboo bars and red vines with red flowers running from the wood planked ceiling to the floor.  Two pots of magic potions, each one holding at least thirty gallons simmered along the wall to Link's right.  Two more pots of magic potions were behind the counter, one on each side of the room.  The one on the right side was the same size as its siblings.  The one on the left was almost twice that size.  A single pot lid made of deku or oak wood set against the wall between the pots and the counter.  A shelf was mounted high up in the left corner of the room on Link's side of the counter.  A strange stone container sat atop the shelf.  "Granny" herself stood behind the counter, petting a cat that rested on the top of the counter in front of her.

She sniffed the air as a form of introduction, and said, "I smell something interesting you have."  

Link said, "I found your grandson in the Lost Woods."  

She replied, "That fool _had_ to go to the Lost Woods!"  

Link said, "He sent me to bring you this Dove Mushroom!  He's in terrible shape!"  

Granny said, "I see…  You must give me the mushroom right now!"  Link handed Granny the Dove Mushroom, and she almost vanished, so fast was she to go to her mixing room behind the curtain.  Link waited patiently for the next half-hour.

Granny came back out, and said, "If you see that fool, give this to him.  It is the strongest medicine I have ever produced.  However, this potion will not work on a monster."  She handed Link the peace potion, which was a gelatine like paste wrapped in a pouch of velum tanned in deku leaf juice.  

Link answered, "If I find him, and he still lives, he will have this potion today!  If I save him, I'll also bring him back here."  

Granny looked at Link with sadness in her eyes and said, "They say that there is no medicine that can cure a fool, my lord.  I guess that's true."  Link didn't ponder how the woman knew who he was, without their ever having met.  He didn't have the time!  Even though his father foretold that Link wouldn't arrive in time, he was determined that he _would!  He wheeled about and ran out of the shop!_

He turned to his left and jumped off of the stone porch of Granny's Potion Shop, landing by the ladder up to the back porch of the Hylean's Potion Shop.  He climbed the ladder as fast as he could, and ran through the Hylean's potion shop, this time saying nothing at all as he passed through!  He ran out of the door and to his left.  He jumped down each of the two flights of steps to the main Village Common of the terraced village!  He turned to his right and ran with all the force he could muster.  He ran to the Kakariko Village steps, and jumped down them.

He mounted Epona and took off at a full gallop!  They rode like the wind, slowing for nothing until they reached the threshold of the Lost Woods Bridge!  Link dismounted with a leap and landed on the bridge itself!  He thought of jumping the rail of the bridge but decided against trying.  The rail was still enchanted, that no Kokiri of any size could vault it!  He sprinted into the village of his childhood!  He ran to his left, before the reborn deku baba could strike at him!  He climbed up each terrace overlooking the village like a rocket.  He ran so fast that the mad scrub waiting in ambush didn't even wake up!  He ran down the path to the first clearing!  He turned left and sprinted the length of the last path, hoping that victory would be his!

But it was not meant to be.  The carpenter's son was gone!  In his place stood a Kokiri girl of about ten years.  Link walked to his kinswoman.  She looked up at him and said, "He isn't here anymore."  

Link asked, "Young maiden, where did he go?"  

She answered rudely, "Anybody who comes into the forest will be lost.  Everybody will become a Stalfos.  Everybody.  Stalfos.  So, he's not here anymore."  She laughed the laugh of one whose mind was broken and asked, "Are you, too?"  She cackled again, the pain, terror, and grief plain now in her laugh!  Link looked quickly into her heart!  Laura was indeed just ten years old.  But her father had been killed in battle two days ago, and her mother died of grief the next morning!  Children normally either died of grief themselves, or more often grieved, but got over the loss.  This is why the Kokiri had an orphanage with orphans living in it.  But Laura was too old to recover and too strong to die!  Her mind had snapped!

The peace potion would not be wasted.  But it would not cure the curse of a Sheikah!  Link only hoped that he was in time!  He grabbed Laura, slapped her twice, and roared at her!  She started to scream loudly at the sky, mouth wide open, which was exactly what Link needed her to do!  He took the peace potion out of the velum pouch and stuffed it into Laura's mouth, and crammed it down her throat quickly with his fingers!  Then, before she could gag, he forced her mouth closed, and gently but firmly nodded her head down, forcing her to swallow the potion!  Then, he held her gently in her arms.

At first, she beat on him with her fists and tried to bite him!  But then, the potion healed her fractured mind and heart.  She hugged Link tightly about the neck, and cried uncontrollably for several minutes.  Finally, she came around and looked at Link again.  She said, "Mister, you look like the life-mate of the Wizard's Daughter.  But he was never so huge!"  

Link answered, "Young Laura, my papa was not only Hylean, but he was a giant among them!  My heart is Kokiri.  But my size is not."  

She kissed him gently on the cheek, as a daughter would kiss her father.  She said, "My lord, my heart is still heavy with grief.  But you've healed it, and my mind."  She paused, and asked, "Do you think they've already been put on the pyre?"  

Link answered gently, "Yes, young Laura.  But as they look down from the realm of the dead, they will be so happy that you are not joining them, and that your mind is healed, that they won't mind."

Link then asked, "Can you find the rest of our people on your own?"  

She answered, "Yes, my lord.  But they would be overjoyed to see you!  Could you help me find them?"  

Link replied, "I can't.  I have to claim my father's great sword, and free Saria from the Forest Temple.  But after I've freed the Temple, Saria and I will return.  I'm told cleansing the Temple will also remove the monsters from the village."  

Laura said, "Then I must let you go all the more quickly!  I'd have no one share my grief, and the longer the village is overrun with monsters, and the Lost Woods filled with Stalfos hordes, the more Forest People will die!"

Link asked, "Do you know if the Sheikah who was here left a saw behind?"  

Laura answered, "Yes, my lord!  He had been leaned up against this stump, shivering.  All of a sudden, he dropped the saw that he held, ate the cucco he held in one gulp, and ran off the way you came in!"  Link let go of Laura.  She walked the two steps to the stump, reached down into the grass, and picked up a poacher's saw.  It was almost heavy enough to be a weapon in its own right!  Its blade was three feet long, and its pole handle another two!  She lifted it by the blade and held it out to Link.  He took it by the handle, and she let go.  Link attached the saw to his t-frame

Link said, "I must leave now, young Laura."  

She answered respectfully, "I'll be fine, my lord!  Go with fortune."  She then played her song on her ocarina as if to say, "I can't find you.  Where are you?"  She and Link both heard the answer.  Link noticed that the ocarina sounded like one of a child, one like his child would be playing now, if Saria had become pregnant from their coupling, and the child lived.  But a warrior played it, not a child!  And that warrior was short of extra patience at the moment.  It seemed to say, "We thought you had died or worse!  Follow my song to safety and mourn with your brothers and sisters, so we don't have to mourn _you!"  She walked quickly to the sound of the music.  She played her song on the ocarina again, saying "I'm coming, Mister Warrior!  My heart is still heavy with grief, but is raised up by wonderful news!"  The distant ocarina answered, "Wonderful.  Follow my song to safety, brave child."  Laura walked out the way Link came into the clearing.  Link ran to the next clearing, stepped onto the magic bean plant, and rode it to the Lost Woods Bridge.  He leapt down to the bridge and ran out to Hyrule Field.  It was one hour past sunset._


	8. Eyedrops and Giants' Knives

Chapter 8 

Link mounted Epona and rode like the wind to the west.  He rode across the width of Hyrule field, riding to the south of Lon-Lon Ranch, and the plateau on which it stood.  He rode all night.  He was chased once by a poe, but the evil spectre could not keep up with Link.  Link finally arrived at the Gerudo Valley just after dawn.  He rode up the narrow path to the first bridge easily.  That first bridge was no more than a heavy deku plank.  Link had trouble keeping Epona from bolting, because she was unsure of her footing and scared, even with Link riding her.  They crossed that bridge and came to the rope bridge over the Hylia River Canyon.  The bridge itself was quite broken, only the two downward sloping approaches were in place.  Had they been breakable, they too would probably be kindling driftwood in Lake Hylia.  Link lined Epona up and brought her to full gallop!

Epona rode faster than she ever had before!  She was frightened, but trusted Link.  She ran straight for where the bridge had been, and jumped over the gorge!  Link quickly slowed her to a trot, and rode back toward the bridge, where the master carpenter's tent was pitched.  The west plateau where they were was crescent shaped, with the path leading up to the Gerudo Fortress on the outer side of the crescent.  The plateau ran along the canyon for about two hundred yards, most of that to the south of the trail to the fortress.  The carpenter's tent was pitched on the north end of the plateau.  Link stopped Epona next to the tent and dismounted.  The master carpenter came out to see who had rode up.

He hadn't aged visibly since Link saw him last in Kakariko.  He was still old, and still amazingly large, strong, and healthy.  The carpenter looked at Link and said, "I am a master craftsman!  Those Gerudo thieves, they broke their bridge!  I want to fix it, as they hired me to do, but all my men are gone!  They said that working as carpenters was too boring, and they went to the Gerudo Fortress to become thieves!"

The carpenter paused for a moment.  Then, he asked, "Hey you!  If you're going to the fortress, would you mind finding out what my workers are doing out there?"  

Link replied, "I'll be going to the fortress, but not today!  I came out here to bring you this."  Link took the poacher's saw off of his t-frame, and held it out to the carpenter.  

The master craftsman exclaimed, "Hey, that saw!  It's mine!  But, I thought I left that saw with my old lady.  Oh, well…  My Biggoron tool broke, so I was going to Goron City to get it repaired.  Your coming here is great timing.  Will you give me my saw?"  

Link answered, "Of course.  That's why I rode out here with it."  The carpenter accepted the saw from Link.  

The carpenter said, "Good Kid!  Thanks!  I'm sorry that I can't give you something as good in return, but… take this anyway!"  He handed Link the three pieces of Arliss's two-handed sword!

Link said, "Thank _you,_ for returning my father's sword to me."  The carpenter looked at Link with fear in his eyes, and said, "You're wrong, kid!  I bought this sword!"  

The Hero of Time answered, "In a way, you did.  You paid for it with your reputation, and the life of your son!"  

The master craftsman looked at Link and said, "You…"  

Link interrupted, "No.  I didn't kill your son!  _You did.  And you did __not use my hands to kill him; I tried to save his life!  Your stealing the sword was the cause of his moodiness and madness!  That madness caused him finally to take refuge in the Lost Woods, with your saw in hand!  The curse of the Lost Woods claimed him._

"I happened upon him, because my father told me where I would find him.  I rode non-stop to Kakariko and back, trying in vain to save his life!  Your mother-in-law made a potion, that had I been able to get it to him in time would have saved his life!  I rode holding _nothing_ back, and failed by only minutes!  He had already passed into the last stages of becoming a Stalfos, and had run off leaving your saw behind!  One of my countrymen, a girl of ten was in need of the potion for a different reason.  She received the potion and her life was saved.

"I am not a vengeful man.  Besides, you have suffered enough for robbing my father's grave, desecrating his body, and trying to defraud me of my inheritance.  It is your son's forgiveness that you must seek.  And you will never know whether or not you have it, until you've joined him in the realm of the dead.  You have the rest of your life to ponder upon it, and if I have any power to affect things, your life will be a long one!  You have your wife and daughter still, be grateful for them.  Go with fortune!"  Link quickly and carefully put the two blade pieces in one of the inside pockets of his tunic.  He tied the hilt of the sword to his t-frame by its thong, mounted Epona, and jumped back over the canyon!  He crossed the plank bridge slowly, barely keeping Epona from panicking.  He rode the rest of the path back to Hyrule Field and rode north on the west road.

Epona was tiring from all the galloping.  Link took the ride more slowly, and arrived at the Kakariko Steps just after sunset.  He dismounted and ran up the steps into Kakariko Village.  He ran through the village common, up the three flights of steps to the north gate.  He ran through the gate, and up the path up Death Mountain.

The path was slightly more dangerous then it had been seven years ago.  Tektites still lurked on the path, and Link was obliged to kill two of them as he climbed up the path.  But Death Mountain itself had become more dangerous because of its eruptions.  There were several huge boulders partly blocking his path.  But these boulders were the good news!  The bad news was the procession of huge boulders rolling down the path toward him.  These boulders, though they behaved according to nature, were magic!  They disappeared before they got to Kakariko.  But they would easily crush Link if he let them!

He covered the path much more quickly than he had as a child.  He reached his magic bean plant at the mouth of Dodongo's Cavern just over an hour after leaving Kakariko Village.  He stepped on the plant, and it took him most of the way to the summit of Death Mountain in less than a minute, making Link's ears pop with the sudden ascent!  He stepped off of the plant just as it started back down, and contemplated the last dangerous part of his voyage.

He ran down the path at full speed!  As he did, he was showered with huge flaming boulders from the very bowels of Death Mountain!  He dodged, ducked, and rolled along the path.  He came to the wall just after dawn.

He was attacked by a red tektite!  He gave it one quick furious chop with the Master Sword, and sent it into oblivion!  He turned his attention to the three skullwalltullahs on the climbing wall.  He killed the first one with his hookshot.  But the other two were out of range!  He climbed up the wall and to his left, dropping on the first ledge, a third of the way up.  From that vantage, he was able to kill the last two skullwalltullahs.  He quickly climbed the rest of the wall, reaching the summit at mid-morning.  He walked to where he remembered the giant Goron hibernating from years before.

This time, the giant Goron sat up, and moaned in pain, rubbing his eyes!  He walked to Biggoron, and the giant spoke to him.  "My brother opened a new store.  It's Medigoron's Blade Store.  However, I am better at making blades."  Link said, "You are Biggoron the Smith?"  Biggoron answered, "Yes."  Link said, "I have a blade that was made by you years ago. A carpenter who came into possession of it years ago misused it as an axe, and broke it!  I need it reforged."  Link took the pieces of Arliss's sword, and offered it to the Goron giant.  Biggoron held the three pieces in the palm of his hand, and felt them for a moment.  He told Link, "That broken knife is surely my work!  I really want to repair it, but because of yesterday's eruptions, my eyes are burned, and I can barely see!

"There are fine eye drops in Zora's Domain.  You will find them if you go to see King Zora.  Can you get me the eye drops, please?"  

Link answered, "Yes.  I'll get the eye drops for you.  How will King Zora know you sent me?"  

The giant Goron reached down into his crater and pulled out a small trident.  Small by the standards of a giant Goron made the trident almost as big as the Master Sword!  Biggoron said, "When he was a young man, and he still travelled abroad, King Zora came to have me make him some of these little forks.  I've found them relaxing to make from time to time, but haven't sold him any in years!  I made this one last week.  He'll recognize my work, and the newness of the metal."  

Link accepted the trident, and hooked it onto his t-frame.  He said, "It will be a day or two before I'm back."  

Biggoron answered, "I will be here."  Link turned around, and started the long dangerous journey to Zora's Domain.

Link jumped down to each ledge in turn, and finally to the path below.  He ran, ducked, and rolled along the path to the grotto, avoiding the flaming boulders sometimes by a hair's breadth!  He jumped down the ledge below the grotto entry hole, and ran down the path to where it met with the path to Goron City.  He kept running, noticing that there were no Gorons waiting along the path.  But sadly, Link already knew where the Gorons were.  He only hoped that he could rescue them in time!  He kept running down the path as fast as he could, and re-entered Kakariko just after sunset.

He ran through Kakariko, down the steps to Hyrule Field, and mounted Epona.  He rode her at full gallop to where he had to swim the Hylia River to enter Zora's Domain.  He had thought of taking the shortcut through Goron City and the Lost Woods.  But he knew he would have to have Epona at the ready to get to Lake Hylia before the eyeball frog spoiled.  He would have no time to waste calling Epona and waiting for her to run to him!

He swam the river, and ran up the path to Zora's River.  He got to where the magic bean seller had been when Link was a child.  There of course was no vendor.  But the octoroks had become more numerous.  Two of them attacked him!  Link had no time to play with them, though.  He jumped most of the way across the narrow river, and swam the rest of the way to the opposite shore.  He climbed back onto dry land, and ran the path he had run as a child.  He stood before the waterfall just before mid-day.  He noticed that the air was much colder than he had remembered.  He also knew _why the air was colder, and shivered not from the cold, but from revulsion of the cruelty!  He played the Song of the Royal Family, and the waters of the waterfall parted.  Link jumped across the open space, and was in Zora's Domain._

Every drop of water in Zora's Domain was frozen solid! Flakes of snow floated in the air, but didn't seem to accumulate.  Link ran down the path, his mind wandering back to the last time he had been there.  How different it had been then!  Especially after he had defeated the barranade inside of Jabu-Jabu's belly!  From the moment he found Princess Ruto searching for the Zora's Sapphire within Jabu-Jabu's belly, she had nagged and complained at him!  She even made him carry her on his shoulders!  And for once, Saria was no help at all!  She actually revelled in the abuse Ruto heaped upon him!  At least she did, until after Link had defeated the barranade, and Ruto not only presented him with the Sacred Stone, but also forced upon him her sacred hand in marriage, and almost gave her body as well!  Saria was a woman scorned, and _nothing_ could match her fury!

He had walked carefully because of the ice, and now stood next to where King Zora was entombed in a block of red ice!  The last words Ruto spoke to him, at least as _he lived time, were "Please don't tell my father!"  At the time, he had no intention of telling the King.  At the time, he had no time to tell the King!  Ruto's kiss and grope of his manhood were unwelcome.  But they had also aroused him, and Saria was mad enough to kill them __both!  Link had to run as fast as he could to the short cut to the Lost Woods to catch Saria, and he barely made it!  If Saria had had the silver scale Link had, she would have made it to Zora's Domain, and gutted Ruto before King Zora's unbelieving eyes!_

But, that was seven years ago, even though it wasn't quite a week for Link!  Now, King Zora would be told _nothing, at least not until Link had thawed him!  The Hero of Time took the bottle of blue fire, and poured it on the block of red ice imprisoning King Zora.  The red ice melted in less than half a minute, and King Zora started to move.  Remembering the King's farsightedness, Link quickly and carefully negotiated the icy path to the platform from which visitors spoke to the King.  Zora exclaimed, "Oh—I've come back to life!  Was it you who saved me?  Don't be nervous!"  _

Link answered, "It was I, your majesty."

The King said, "It looks like you have a hard time breathing underwater.  As an expression of my gratitude, I grant you this tunic.  With this, you won't choke underwater."  King Zora picked up a bluish grey tunic from beside him, and tossed it across to Link.  Link caught the tunic, and wedged it behind his tunic.  King Zora said, "Is there something else you want, Hyrule?"  Link was surprised!  King Zora recognized him.  He also recognized who he was, addressing him by his title, as a king would to a lesser noble, not by name!  

Link regained his composure, and said, "Yes, your majesty.  Biggoron the Smith asked me to get some eye drops from you.  He sent me with this trident to prove I came at his bidding."  

King Zora answered, "You may keep or dispose of the trident as you see fit, Link.  Even if you sought the eye drops for amusement, I would owe them to you.  You not only saved my life, but I know you are the Hero of Time, and ride to defeat Ganondorf to free the entire realm!  Ruto was also very fond of you, even if you were already married when she met you!"  Link was even more shocked!

King Zora continued kindly, "Go ahead and secure that tunic onto your pack properly while we talk, Link.  I don't want you to lose it!"  Link did as the King told him.  King Zora said, "As for the eye drops.  You might say we have them, you might say we don't!  We do have the main ingredient.  If you take this eyeball frog to the master potioner at Lake Hylia, he can make the drops for you.  But you need to deliver it fresh!  It will only keep for a day, and the underwater path to Lake Hylia is frozen over solid on this end, unless you've already found a way to thaw it!  Can you make it before the frog spoils?"  

Link answered, "Yes, your majesty."  Link had just finished putting his t-frame back onto his back.  King Zora tossed Link an eyeball frog!  Link caught the frog, and put it the inside pocket of his tunic.  Zora said, "Go with fortune, and quickly!  I don't have that many frogs left if you let this one go bad!"  

Link replied, "Thanks, your majesty!" and left at a full run!

He quickly ran through Zora's Domain, being more lucky than careful not to slip on the ice.  He jumped through the waterfall and back out to Zora's River.  He started running along the path, but after crossing the rope bridge, decided it would be quicker if he swam.  The water was much shallower than he remembered.  But the wading didn't slow him down much, and the path was enough shorter that he did save time.  He swam the last part of Zora's river out to where it became the Hylia River and climbed out next to where Epona waited.  He mounted Epona and rode like the wind!  He rode southwest, crossing Hyrule field south of Lon-Lon Ranch.  He lined Epona up with the two tall fences, and urged her on faster!  She easily made both jumps, and they rode to the shore of Lake Hylia.

Link was shocked at the drop in the water level!  But he had no time to marvel at any of the sights on this trip!  He rode almost to the door of the master potioner's laboratory before he dismounted.  He ran to the door of the laboratory and walked in.

He walked up to the master potioner.  The potioner introduced himself by saying, "Hello there, son.  I'm researching the process of making medicine by mixing Lake Hylia's water with various unusual compounds.  Perhaps you've met the old woman who runs the potion shop in Kakariko Village.  She is kind of a student of mine."  Link was still out of breath.  He pulled the eyeball frog from his tunic, and handed it to the potioner.  It was still fresh.

The potioner exclaimed, "I haven't seen an eyeball frog like this since Zora's Domain froze over!  These eyeballs are so delicious!  Tonight I will cook fried eyeballs for the first time in a long time!  Uhoy hoy hoo houy hoy!  Such great stuff!  Please say thank you to King Zora!"  

Link regained his voice and said, "No!  You are supposed to make eye _drops _for Biggoron the Smith with the frog, not your supper!"  

The potioner said, "Eh?  What?  These are for making Biggoron's eye drops?  Oh, how disappointing!  You should have said so in the first place!"  

Link answered, "How was I supposed to know that you _ate eyeball frogs, too?"_

The master potioner ignored the question.  Instead, he turned to his compounding bench, frog in hand.  He compounded the frog's eyeballs, water from Lake Hylia, and some other assorted powders and fluids.  He mixed the lot together, and put it into a star-shaped bottle the size of Link's chest!  The potioner said, "Here it is!  This medicine doesn't have any preservatives in it.  So it won't last long at this temperature.  Run as fast as you can to Death Mountain.  You're young—you can do it!"  He handed the bottle to Link, who buttoned it inside of his tunic.  Between the strength of the tunic's buttons, and the strap from the scabbard of the Master Sword, the bottle was held securely in place.  But would Link's body heat make the eye drops go bad sooner?  Link was horrified at the thought!  But he had no other choice.  He ran out of the lab without another word!

He rode like the wind the entire length of the west road from Lake Hylia to the Kakariko village steps, arriving there just after dawn.  He dismounted with a jump, and landed halfway up the first flight of steps leading to the village common.  He ran through the village without a word, and up the Death Mountain Trail!  He ran so fast that neither the red tektites nor the boulders could threaten him!  He leapt onto the magic bean plant and rode it up to the grotto.  He jumped off the huge leaf platform and hit the ground running!  He ran down the path to the wall, paying no heed to the boulders crashing down around him!  He stopped only long enough to shoot the lowest skullwalltullah, and climbed up the wall!  He climbed so quickly the red tektite and the other two skullwalltullahs didn't even know he was there!  He reached the summit and ran to where Biggoron waited.  He took the huge bottle from beneath his tunic and shouted breathlessly, "I'm back with your medicine, Biggoron!"

The giant smith looked down to Link and said, "Oh, you're back!  And you brought me the eye drops!  I'm going to use them right now!"  The huge Goron took the bottle from Link, removed the stopper, and emptied half of the two-gallon bottle into each eye!  He blinked twice, and exclaimed, "Wow!  This is stimulating!  It's working great!  Now I can get back to my blade business!  My work takes time, because the blades are so small compared to my size.  Come back in three days time, and your sword will be ready.  Just be patient, and you will be pleased beyond measure with my work!"  

Biggoron looked at broken blade for the first time.  He then howled in pain again!  "No!  It can't be!"  He looked at Link, and saw that he was the son of the Duke of Hyrule, whose broken blade he held in his hand!  "Must you be so cruel in your vengeance?  If you require my life, take it!  But don't make me forge the blade of my own doom!"

Link replied, "Nonsense!  I have no complaint with you!  I am Sworn Brother to your King!  And this blade didn't fail my father!  The carpenter who stole it from Papa's grave broke it, and only in the last month!  Look at the breaks, notice how fresh they are!"  

The Giant Smith looked closely at the blade.  He said, "I know you speak the truth.  I wish I could believe you.  But the only man who could convince me has been dead eighteen years!"  

Link said, "He can tell you himself, then.  I have to call him anyway, because of the special repair I need you to do to this blade."  Biggoron quaked in fear as Link played the "Song of the Fathers" on his ocarina.  Arliss appeared before Biggoron, looking as he had in life, but as a semi-transparent vision!

Arliss' ghost spoke.  "Smith, calm yourself!  Had my skill been as good as your blade, I'd still be alive!  But the whole realm needs your help and your skill this day!  The three of us and the Great Fairy of Swords will make this blade the Sword of Ages!  If we don't, Ganondorf will feed your brothers, and your King to Volvagia!"  Biggoron answered, "Of course.  But I thought the Hero of Time was a Kokiri?"  Link answered, "I _am Kokiri, Biggoron!  I cleared the Dodongos from Dodongo's Cavern seven years ago!"  Biggoron looked at Link in amazement, and said, "You're _Link?_"  Arliss retorted, "That's what I named him, Smith!"  Biggoron marvelled, "You changed _races_ to hide from the beast?"  Link replied sharply, "I hid from _no one!_  I changed races that I could love my life-mate as she loved me!"  Link realized that only when he said it.  He stood silently in amazement at what love could do to a person.  Arliss said, "I had him hidden, Smith.  And it is now that I hid him for!  Link, it's time.  Let's go into the Great Fairy's Fountain.  Smith, hold your ear to the opening, and speak softly into it to answer the Great Fairy!"_

Link and Arliss's ghost walked into the fountain.  The ghost spoke quietly.  "My son, you have done well.  I see in your heart your concern for the Princess!  She is safe.  Should you prevail over Ganondorf, she will remain safe.  She will not be defiled!  She will be hurt again by her father's treachery, for she has yet to see into his heart, and I cannot stop that!  But she will not be defiled, nor will she die by fire.  She will never know the touch of any except for her husband, who will love her with a heart even larger than yours now, and who will _never_ defile her!"  Link heard more in Arliss' words than was there.  He answered "Thank you, father.  Dampé thought that you would resist more.  The ghost answered, "I spoke rashly, even from beyond the grave.  But I _never_ cursed _Zelda!_  She was innocent of her father's wrongdoing.  Unlike the son of the carpenter, who helped his father rob my grave, Zelda is pure.  Now, call the Great Fairy!"

Link played the Song of the Royal Family.  The Great Fairy materialized and arose from the waters.  "Hello!" she cried.  "What is it you seek?"  Link answered, "Great Fairy, we seek your help forging the Sword of Ages."  She asked, "Do the three of you know what you truly want?"  Biggoron said "Yes, Great Fairy!"  Link and Arliss silently nodded their heads.  "Good" the Great Fairy replied.  She said, "Biggoron, forge that blade as a normal repair, but with all of your skill and love.  Hold _nothing_ back.  Work quickly, but make that blade as pure as you possibly can!  If this blade is not made true and _true_, it will fail its quenching.  Great Warrior and Great Spirit!  Come back in three days time.  On that morning, we will make this humble blade into the blade of Legend!"  The Great Fairy vanished back into the water, after healing Link fully and restoring his magic stamina.

Biggoron withdrew his arm and the sword from the cave.  He went to his forge, which was heated by the fires of Death Mountain itself, and started to work.  As he did this, he said "Sworn Brothers!  This sword will be ready for its tempering by the Great Fairy three days from now!  It will be the best sword ever made!  But know this!  Only two Sworn Brothers of the Wild Darunia and the Mighty Smith Biggoron could ever ask for such a sword, much less get it!  Link, will you accept me as your Sworn Brother?  I am not worthy, but I hope this sword will make it so.  Link replied "Sworn Brother Biggoron!  You are my Sworn Brother!  If it were for the Gorons alone, I would gladly walk into Death Mountain itself to die fighting Volvagia!  But you provide the sword that will allow me to help our Brother Darunia find the hammer, and assure victory!  You forgive the delay that I may save the people of my heart, who are in graver peril still!  You are truly worthy!  It is I who is unworthy!"  Biggoron spoke.  "Sworn Brother, your heart is huge.  Your courage is of legend, and yet lives still!  If you are not worthy, neither am I!  But, worthy or not, we are Brothers!"  Biggorn pumped furiously on his bellows, heating the lava fire white-hot!  He started on reforging the sword.

Link and Navi started the trip back down the mountain.  They had three days to finish redeeming his liegemen, who waited at the farm in Hyrule field.


	9. Back on The Ranch

Chapter 9 

They arrived at late afternoon, thanks to Link's speed jumping and running down Death Mountain, and Epona's speed crossing Hyrule Field.  They rode up the path onto the plateau, and into the gate of the farm.  They found both Talon and Ingovard talking to each other.  They had just finished brawling, after several days of awkward silence.  They were just now reconciling their differences.

"You say you lost Epona to a stranger?" Talon asked?  

"Yes, Talon!  But he _couldn't have been a stranger!  He rode just like the Duke did in life!  When I barred the front gate, thinking I could renege on my bet, he jumped the west wall just like the Duke always did when he was angry with the Gerudo!  That, even more than fear of Ganondorf, opened my eyes to the treachery I had done!"  _

"But I did leave you open to it!" replied Talon.  "Had _I_ done as the Duke would have had me do, you wouldn't have felt like an abused employee!  I was _supposed to treat you like a brother, or a son!  Instead, I didn't thank you for saving my daughter.  I let all the labour of the farm fall on your shoulders!  And I never even thanked you, much less paid you properly!  I'll not even count the horse against what I owe __you, for the years of neglect to your purse and spirit!  _

"But if Ganondorf expected that horse, we're both finished!  Did you actually tell him you were going to give him a horse?"  

"No, Talon!  I'd planned that as a surprise!  I wasn't going to present that horse until I had ridden her myself.  And not even Malon could ride that horse!"  

"Yet that stranger who woke me up was able to ride her the first time he sets eyes on her?"  

"Must be.  The guy must have some kind of magic to him.  He was a Hylean, almost as tall as me.  But he had a _fairy!  Maybe that had something to do…"  _

Just then, the two men noticed the mounted warrior with a battle fairy, listening in on their conversation.  Both men became afraid!

"Who are you?" they asked as one.  

Link answered, "I am the Duke of Hyrule.  I have come to check on my legacy.  I had thought I would find it wanting.  But the two of you have remembered your duties to each other, if belatedly.  Yet still, I wonder.  Talon, why did you mistreat my squire these many years?  And Ingovard, why did you curry favour with our sworn enemy, the man who laid my father in an early grave?"

"Strange warrior!" Ingovard exclaimed.  "If you be who you say you are, I owe you my life for satisfaction.  But, if you truly be the Duke of Hyrule, how are you alive?  When I checked the house, on these very grounds, there was no way _anyone could have survived that fire!  And there was no word that you had been moved elsewhere!  If you merely be a young man trying to gain a free horse in these troubled times, you had earned the horse, until you returned here!  By coming this last time, you have earned a shallow grave!  For I was noble, had turned corrupt, and may become noble again!  But _no one _will jest of the memory of the Duke of Hyrule on these grounds, and live to boast of it afterwards!"_

"My stable hand speaks for me on this, friend!" Talon added.  "You returned my farm to me, and I thank you.  But you have just insulted the memory of the man from whom I received this farm!  I had promised my life in his service.  If I die killing you for what you said, it would only be fair payment for the many years of pleasure I've had running this place."  

Link answered "If your words are true, you'll recognize me soon enough.  For you would have known both my father and mother.  You will see them in me, and know me for who I am!  If you recognize me, that will be a start towards your redemption.  If you fail, it will be your doom!"

Link dismounted, and drew the Master Sword!  He armed his shield, and approached the two men.  As he did, he sensed a presence, but just for a moment.  The two men, who had been ready to challenge him with bare hands, fell to the ground, shaking in fear.  But did they fear _him?  They cried out "My lord!  Please have mercy on us!  Don't take us with you!"  _

Link felt the presence again, just for a moment.  The two men got up, visibly relieved.  They presented themselves to Link.  

"My lord, we didn't recognize you," said Talon.  

"We meant no offence!" said Ingovard.  

Link sheathed his sword, and put his shield on his back.  "I was not offended.  But where was I going to take you?"

"Your father just appeared to us" Talon answered.  "He said that we would follow you, or join him!"  

Link said, "I believe you.  But I will not have you help me out of fear of my father's ghost.  Ganondorf is far more fearsome than any ghost or poe that wanders restlessly through the fields.  I need your help.  But I need you to help me through your courage, not your fear.  Look at me!  Listen to your heart, not my father, though he is right.  _Am I who I say I am?_  Does a man's word of honour still mean something in these times?  Does kinship still matter to the Hyleans?  Are there still people in this world who answer the call of duty?  What say you, liegemen?"

The two men studied Link.  They saw it almost at the same instant.  They saw the colour of Junia's hair.  The fine features of Link's face, which were a masculine rendition of Junia's, and a refining of Arliss's.  The way he unconsciously turned his sword in his hand, which they had both seen the Duke do many times.  And they saw his eyes.  They had only known one man with eyes that blazed as sapphires.  They had both sworn allegiance to that man, and his sons forever!  They both genuflected to Link.  Ingovard said "My lord!  Honour and kinship _do still mean something!  I have been without both for so long that I had almost forgotten their comfort."  _

Talon continued, "Ingo and I had each blamed the other for the misfortunes that befell us.  We have only now discovered how much we had lost doing this!  You brought us reconciliation.  Now, you bring us the chance to redeem ourselves completely from our shame at the loss of your mother.  My lord, we pledge our lives to you!"

Link answered, "I'm glad you recognized me.  I am duty bound to free this land from Ganondorf!  I don't know where or when I will need your help, but I know that when I do, I will need it desperately.  Can I count on you?"  Ingovard replied, "My lord, we failed your father.  We will _never fail you, save our lives fail us!"_

Link said, "Thank you.  I would sup with you and spend the night here.  Would that be all right?"

Both Talon and Ingovard nodded nervously, and led Link to the ranch house.  When they got to the door, Ingovard walked silently towards the stable.  Talon asked, "I thought we had settled our differences?  You _are_ welcome to sup with me."

The squire answered, "His Lordship's horse must be seen to."

Link said, "Be quick then, Ingo.  Give her food and rub her down, but don't bar the gate to her stall, and leave the door unlatched that she may answer my call on her own.  We shall wait until you join us to eat."

Talon and Link entered Talon's house, as Malon was setting out the dishes for supper. She said, "I see we have our benefactor as a guest, Dad."

Talon answered, "Yup.  Right important guest, too!  He's the Duke of Hyrule, who's daddy gave us this place, right after you were born."

"So, dad, is he going to take the traitor with him, or did he run off to 'The Great Ganondorf' all on his own?"

Link interjected, "Neither.  He will not trouble you any more."

Malon blanched, but for but a moment.  She answered Link, "I get no satisfaction from his death.  But, he did deserve it, if anyone did."

This time, _Link_ paled, as Talon exclaimed, "What?  That man saved your live, child!"  

After several moments of awkward silence, Link said, "Ingovard is quite alive.  He no longer desires to cozen to evil, and will do his proper bidding here quietly."

Malon answered briskly, "And so long as he does, _cousin,_ he will have no trouble with me!  But there are some wrongs where no second chance is given.  To me, Ingovard's taking Ganondorf's rupee was but one of many things like that he did.

"But enough of that foul beast, cousin!  How do you like your horse?  And why have you not visited for seven years, huh?  Your life-mate wouldn't give you a 'kitchen-pass?'"

Link paused awkwardly.  He said, "Your memory and wit are quite quick.  I only found out a few days ago that our mothers were sisters.

"As for me, when I visited you, I had received a commission from… _Queen_ Zelda.  I was to claim the Triforce for her, to prevent Ganondorf from getting it first.  I failed, though by the slimmest of margins.

"For the past seven years, at least some part of me was kept preserved in the farthest reaches of the Sacred Realm.  I know that as I live time, I shall return at least twice to what is now the past.  Because of this, I must be most careful about what I learn now.

"For if I hear good news now about what I did then, I may fail to do it then, and the world will be doomed.  And, if I hear _bad_ tidings, I may lose my courage at the wrong time, and that would be even worse!  For fate oftentimes helps the un-doomed man when his courage is strong, but the coward quickly dies his thousand deaths and walks the earth no more."

Malon asked, "So, have you been back to your life-mate?  After seven years, will she even _take_ you back?"

"Of _course_ she'll take me back, _if_ I can rescue her from Ganondorf!" Link said ruefully.

Malon gasped in shock!  Link said reassuringly, "Think not of it.  _I_ didn't know until a few days ago."  Link barely managed to keep his voice level, and tears threatened the corners of his eyes.

Malon said, "I'm still sorry, Link.  But you've never told me her name.  What is it?"

"Saria" Link answered sadly.

"But she's the Wizardess of the Kokiri!" Malon exclaimed.  She quickly added, "But as handsome as you were, and are now, that makes perfect sense!  At least I've been told that Kokiri women choose their own husbands, and what woman in her right mind would _not_ have you?"

Link sobbed, "She could have had _anyone._  Yet she took _me_, an outlander, with no money, and nothing admirable to my name.  I was taken in as an orphan.  No one knew I was the Duke of Hyrule, not even me…"  

Link paused, and corrected himself, saying, "Saria knew _something._  For years, she would think of me as the 'Child of Destiny.'  She only quit when she found that it hurt my feelings to be put up on such a high pedestal, when I only wanted to be an ordinary Kokiri, neither special nor an outsider.

"And she had to love me for me alone.  For I was Hylean, and not a strong one.  Yet, she loved me anyway, so much so that she even consented that I love her.  We loved each other so much that it helped inspire me to my greatest achievement, _our_ greatest achievement—I _became_ Kokiri.

"It took most of my childhood to do it.  It's only in looking back that I realize just how long it took, and how early it started, but that blessed event was finally complete on my eleventh birthday, the day boys of my race become men.

"Saria and I bonded just before I arrived here to visit you those seven years ago.

"And _yes,_ we're _still_ cousins, Malon" Link added, seeing traces of rejection on both Malon and Talon's faces.  "I renounced my birth-_race,_ not my relatives.  You are my cousin.  Though I don't say it openly yet, Talon _is_ my uncle by marriage, and your mama is my…"  Link paused, and said the Hylean word for "aunt" rather than the Kokirish "tántã."

Malon was awkwardly silent, not knowing what to say.  The silence was broken only when Ingovard entered the kitchen/dining room from outside, having finished tending to Epona, and the other livestock.  Malon glared at him, and left the room.

Talon was more friendly, saying, "So lazy have I been that I'd forgotten how long it took to see to the livestock by one's self.  Why didn't you ask me to help?  I stand by my word, but old habits be hard to break, 'specially at first."

Ingo answered, "You were busy entertaining his lordship, Talon.  And it wasn't bad, really."

"Well, pull up a plate of stew…  No, _I'll_ serve tonight, seeing her majesty doesn't want to eat with the hired help!"

As Talon served the stew up in three bowls, Link heard something heavy crash against the wall of the next room, suggesting that something said had upset Malon badly.

The three men made small talk as they ate, mostly of Epona's qualities as a horse, and how amazing it was that only Link could ride her.

Malon came in wordlessly, collected the bowls and spoons, and set to on cleaning them.  Malon stood up and announced, "Shut-eye time, y'all!  I'm goin' up to my bed.  Malon, help his lordship set up in the front room.  You got your bed set back right in the barn, Ingo?  And you sure that's where you want to stay?"

Ingovard answered, "It's fine, Talon.  Even during the bad times, couldn't sleep nowheres else!  Se ya in the mornin'?"

"Only if my daughter lights fire to my bed!  But somethin' tells me she will.  And you have my word, friend, you will think you see _two_ of me workin' with you from now on!"  Both men chuckled, and went their separate ways, leaving Malon and Link alone.

Malon asked quietly, "You think I'm being too harsh to the traitor?"

Link answered, "I see in his heart that he won't go down that road again, Malon.  The beast thrives on disunity.  I must do what I can to provide _unity._  If that includes pardoning a man who genuinely turned away from his wrongs, and whose wrongs didn't have a chance to kill anyone yet, I have to do it, no matter how offensive his act was."

"I'd be less offended if he hadn't been looking at me" she said in a quiet but matter-of-fact voice.

Link asked angrily, "When has he invaded your privacy?  And _why_ didn't you say before _now?"_     

     "Not so loud, _please!_" she said pleadingly.  She continued quietly, "I'd love to lie, to get that traitor what he deserves, but it wasn't like _that_.  He's never tried to see me without my clothes; he's just _looked_ at me.  And I wouldn't be so angry if _I_ hadn't started looking _back!_

     "Don't look shocked like that, Link!" she said at Link's astonished stare.  "I _am_ a woman now, after all, though still quite a young one.  And some of my friends are already married.  And I _know_ he's a bit older than me, but that wouldn't have mattered.  His vanity has always gotten on my nerves, but nobody's perfect.  _But,_ I could _never_ comfort a traitor, nor forgive one!

     "Please don't say anything about this, will you?"

     Link answered soothingly, "Of course I won't, Malon."

     "Thanks" she sighed in relief.  She spoke with more of her normal cheer and enthusiasm, "And I'll make it up to you too, Link!  But you'll have to beat me in a race with Epona tomorrow, as well.  You _will_ be able to stay tomorrow, won't you?"

     "Yes, Malon.  I won't have to leave until at least mid-afternoon tomorrow, so we'll have all morning to race, and to catch up on old times, at least as much as we dare."

     "With what you said at supper, 'old times' will take about two minutes!" she answered in frustration.

     "I guess so, Malon.  But that leaves the rest of the morning for us to race, ride, and for you to tell me about the horse you gave me."

     "Oh, Epona will tell you herself, if you know how to listen to her…"  Epona tapped her nose on the window to gain Link's attention.

     Link looked at the window and said, "No, you can't sleep in here, and I'm not sleeping in the stable with you!"

     The horse snorted loudly, and moved her head as if to say, 'No, come out here, now.'  Malon said, "Let's see what she wants."  Link nodded silently in answer.  He quickly put his sword, shield, and pack back on, and with Malon behind her walked out the door.

     When they stood out in the main road, Epona snorted once, and walked out towards the pasture and corral.  Link and Malon followed the horse.  When she reached the end of the house, though, Epona turned _left,_ toward the back of the house!

     Link and Malon followed the horse to the back of the house.  Link heard the familiar scratching noise, and noticed Epona looking at the top of the house.  Link followed the horse's gaze, to find the curse spider he couldn't gain by any means seven long years ago, still spinning lazily in the moonlight, waiting for him.

     Malon saw it too, and fearfully asked, "What is that monster on the wall of my house?"

     Link answered quietly, "Just left-overs from a fight my papa had with Jardain the Banker when I was a baby."  He took his hookshot from his pack, and fired it twice, the first time killing the curse spider, and the second time capturing and claiming the heavy gold token that materialized from the hideous arachnid's corpse.

     Malon was struck speechless in awe and horror, trying to gasp out questions.  Link answered her.

     "Papa had asked Jardain and his sons to hide Mama and me around the time he and Mama were killed.  Jardain refused.  In his fury from the grave, Papa placed the curse on Jardain and his sons.  I'm responsible for lifting it."

     "But… But…" Malon stammered.

     Link reassured her, "No.  These curse-spiders neither cause nor help evil.  They sometimes hide in places where evil has been done at one time, but this is only so they may hide in peace.  Other times, they hide in perfectly ordinary places, like the back wall of your house.

The only ones they hurt by existing are the remaining two cursed sons of Jardain, and Jardain himself.  They harm no one else unless approached.  Then, they _can_ hurt or kill you like any other spider of that size would, but they can neither pursue nor flee.

Malon recovered some of her nerve and asked timidly, "How many of them _are there?_  Do you know?"

"There were one hundred when I started.  I've already killed over thirty.  When I've killed fifty of them, I'll have freed all of Jardain's sons.  I'll have to kill them all before Jardain himself is free."

"Then may they live forever!" Malon exclaimed in rage.

"No, Kill them all!" answered Talon, who had quietly walked up behind them.

"Dad!" Malon exclaimed in shock.  "Don't do that!  You like to have scared me to death!"

Talon said in answer, "You _are_ still my daughter!  If you and Link had any 'ideas,' I'm _still_ responsible to make him any keep any 'promises' he makes you."

Link laughed and said, "I'm sure you _would, too._  But she's my cousin, I'm _not_ Gerudo, and I've too many women being foisted off on me with romancing any more, no matter how beautiful and smart they are!

"But why is it the business of _either_ of you whether or not I hunt curse-spiders?"

Malon answered, "Because Jardain sold the mortgage on this place to Ganondorf!  _That's_ how he could 'give' Ingo the ranch!"

Talon interjected, "_No, Jardain did no such thing!_  He _was_ pressured, though.

"I found out from Jonathan what had happened after I was run off to Kakariko. He said that Ganondorf _did_ try to buy the mortgage many times, in many different ways, but was always turned down.  Finally, Ganondorf just gave up, and claimed he bought the mortgage anyway, when he hadn't.  Then, he rounded up what Jonathan called…"  Talon paused in thought trying to remember the term, then said, "…bank ride?"

Link replied, "Bank _run, _Talon."  The Kokiri Warrior 

shivered in fear for Jardain's livelihood and asked, "What happened then, Talon?"

     Talon replied, "Jonathan said that you had already give them so much gold from those monsters, and so many rupees, that they couldn't _give_ it all away, much less loan it out!  He paid off everybody who said they had money with them, usury and all, and _still_ had lots of gold and rupees left over without making anyone pay their loans off early!  He even paid people who said they had money from before they were cursed, _with usury,_ even though the King had already paid them all off years ago!

     "Jonathan tried to get me to stay with him, but I ain't takin' no charity!  And besides, spiders give me the creeps, even good ones like Jardain!  He also tried to pay my bill at the inn, but like I said, I ain't takin' no charity!

     "That reminds me, Link.  When do I hafta pay you back for payin' my inn bill?"

     Link answered, "You don't.  And it's not charity, either!" he added seeing Talon's expression turn stubborn.  "You've helped me a lot already, and will help me much more before I've killed Ganondorf for good.  The least I can do is pay your inn bill.

     "But that reminds me, Talon.  How _did_ you get this ranch?" Link asked, knowing the answer.

     Talon answered nervously, "The King gave to me, right after your father died."

     Link asked, "Did he have any right to do this?"

     Talon thought about this for over a minute.  He finally answered, tears in his voice, "No…"

     Link angrily cut Talon off, saying, "Damn right, he didn't!  _He_ helped in Mama and Papa's murder.  This ranch is _mine!_  I give it rightly to you, Talon, Franklin of Lon-Lon, going back to the instant King Harkinian gave it to you wrongly!  And, I claim the mortgage to it as my own debt, buying it at full price owed from Jardain.  And I forgive _that_ debt forever!  _Now,_ this is _your_ ranch, Talon!"

     Talon and Malon both stood in utter shocked silence for over a minute.  Finally, Talon said nervously, "I don't know what to say…"

     Link answered, "No problem, _Uncle_ Talon.  Just say goodnight, and let's get some sleep.  It's almost midnight, and I'm quiet tired, as I'm sure you and Malon are.

     "But, please don't go bragging that you're my uncle just yet, Talon.  I am still a very dangerous nephew to have!  Freely admit your loyalty, and do what is right.  But until the time comes, and you will see it plainly when it comes for real, you are _only_ a friend, and you are _only_ loyal to me because it is right, not because of blood ties."

     Talon answered, "As you wish, _my lord._  But _everyone_ knows that my dead wife and your dead mom were sisters!  Everyone knowing the Duke of Hyrule rides again also knows I'm an uncle again!  Besides, I ain't movin' nowheres!  If Ganondorf wants to find me, he knows where to look…  Right here on _my_ ranch!  Goodnight… my lord.

     "Did I ever tell you that your mother was righteously pissed at Romani and me for getin' married?"

     Link answered, "Probably didn't want a grown man bowing and scraping to his nephew.  When it's just family, don't bother with it.  Just don't forget that I _am_ a Duke in public, or when Ingovard is around, even if in private I'm also a Franklin's nephew."

     Talon nodded silently, and they all went back inside, Epona silently finding her way back to her stall in the barn.

     This time, Malon quickly helped Link set up a pallet on the floor of their front room to sleep upon.  Then she retired herself, leaving Link and Navi.  Soon, her even breathing could be heard between Talon's snorts and snoring.

     Navi said, "You did quite well today, Link.  Your generosity would have made your mother proud, and I'm sure your father's ghost will be pleased, once he finds out.  Now, it's time for _you_ to get some sleep.  Tomorrow is sure to be another long day.

But before he closed his eyes, he paused, remembering his conversation with Navi of several days ago.

He asked, "You said when first we left the Temple of Light that you would tell me of Mama and yourself, as well as Papa.  You only spoke of him."

Navi answered, "I did.  I will speak of your mother another time.  Her story is difficult indeed.  But, I will tell you more of myself. 

"You remember the legends of Cahir Ivanhoe?" she asked.

He answered, "Yes.  He turned against the Great Deku Tree.  He wished to make the Kokiri a race of conquerors, and kill off the other races of the realm.  But when he, his second, and his two chief men went in to fell the Great Deku Tree, the Tree fought them.  In the end, Ivanhoe was defeated because you turned on him, and persuaded your sisters to turn on their hosts as well, or so the legends say.  _Did you?"_  

Navi answered, "Yes, I did what had to be done.  Continue, child."

Link said, "As I remember the legend, a_ll_ the Kokiri Warlords were killed, their kind never to walk the forest again.  Why did you have to do this?"  

Navi said, "Ivanhoe had done far more than the legends say.  He had found the power to grant fairies _himself_ a skill he sadly never let me learn, though he worked through my body to do it_._  He also found a way to make deku seeds and nuts feed many more people.  Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?"  Link nodded in stunned confusion.

Navi spoke again.  "It depends on how you use the knowledge.  As you know, there are lands beyond the mountains.  Ivanhoe planned to not only conquer and enslave all of Hyrule, he planned to conquer _those_ lands as well.  With his knowledge, he could have killed off native peoples, and replaced them with Kokiri loyal to him, all over the world, even where deku will not grow at all!  But the Great Deku Tree opposed him.  So, Ivanhoe planned to kill the Great Deku Tree.

"Ivanhoe was killed outright, along with the younger two of his three sons.  His eldest son, Aleric, opposed his father, and sided with the Great Deku Tree.  For this, Ivanhoe took his battle-fairy from him and bound him to an ordinary fairy, with such a bond that not even the Great Deku Tree could break it!  This preserved his life, when his brothers fell.  He eventually took a life-mate, and the line continued unto Sarchan, then Saria.

"Wazu, Ivanhoe's second, was cursed to a fate worse than death.  You've already met him."

Link asked, "When?  And _how_?  With the Great Deku Tree dead, you _alone_ live from those ancient times."

Navi answered, "In his youth, Wazu cursed two young boys.  The boys had been disrespectful to Wazu.  He beat the children cruelly, which caused an argument between Wazu and the father of the boys; this argument resulted in the boys' father dying before their very eyes!  

"Wazu then cursed the boys, who were only five and four years old, more harshly than if they were men!  He cursed them to wander the forest forever as straw effigies, with only the faintest memories of their previous lives.  He pronounced that they would suffer that curse until the master of the Great Deku Tree himself freed them!  And, his power as a wizard was such that not even the Great Deku Tree himself could break the curse, even had he been able to lure the two boys to his meadow.  He tried many times over the years, and always failed.

"Wazu could not be touched while Ivanhoe lived, and tried to fight to the death at Ivanhoe's side.  But the Great Deku Tree had other plans in mind for Wazu, even worse than death itself, and had Wazu taken alive.

"The Great Deku Tree cursed Wazu more severely than Wazu himself had cursed the innocent children.  Firstly, he gave Wazu an ordinary fairy so he continued to live.  Then, the Tree cursed Wazu to wander as the two boys he cursed did—until he could love another more than he loved himself, with child-like innocence and with no thought of selfish gain!  

     "You think this curse would be easy to slip, Link?" she asked him.  He nodded assent, still somewhat in a state of shock from what he'd just learned of his guardian.  Navi answered, "_You_ might have a chance.  But Wazu never thought of any save himself!  He only followed Ivanhoe in hopes of riches and power when Ivanhoe triumphed!  Though he _was_ loyal to his liege-lord, his loyalty was _bought!_"

     Link asked, "The skull kids said they were all brothers.  How do they think this if it isn't so?"  Navi answered, "They _are_ brothers in a way, _now._  They share the brotherhood of a horrible curse, knowing they have lost and suffer, but not realizing just _how much_ they've lost and just _what_ they suffer!  They've been their curse for over two _hundred_ years!  Wazu himself is all but forgotten, and he was a mighty warrior!  The two boys are not known in their proper form by anyone save the two of us.  _Everyone_ the two boys knew is dead, and only I remain of Wazu's acquaintances.  Time has abandoned them!"

     "But back to me.  After Ivanhoe's fall, I helped the Great Deku Tree guard the forest.  For a time, I even became the Chieftain of the Kokiri themselves!  But, eventually, I was no longer needed.  A period of peace fell upon the land.

     "That changed though when King Flynn, Princess Zelda's greatfather came to the throne.  Old differences were remembered, and new ones were created.  Skirmishes were fought, occasional wars were waged, and the Kokiri were again imperilled.  And something else strange started to happen.  The Kokiri lost the cunning of their minds.  You know that only the two Helfdanes, Saria, and you can read the ancient Kokiri runes?"

     Link answered, "Yes.  And I didn't come by them that easily at first.  They were harder than the Sheikah and Goron pictograms, and those were bloody murder!"  

     Navi said, "And only the Helfdanes, Saria, and you can read them as well.  But in Ivanhoe's time, _every _Kokiri could read and write, in _all the languages of the realm!_  Every Kokiri house had books, and every book was read!  Learning has left our people!

     "I have my suspicions as to why—suspicions so horrible, so blasphemous, so _cruel_—that I will not even think of them, lest you learn to read my thoughts, as you eventually will.  But, we will see what happens once you've lifted the curse from the Forest Temple, and return to your brothers.  Then, we will see if my suspicions have been proved.  If not, we may have yet _another_ curse to lift from your brothers of the Forest.

Link and Navi awoke at the fourth hour past sunrise to an empty house.  He sat up, and noticed that some bread, fruit preserves, butter, milk, and water had been set for him in the kitchen.

     He dressed quickly, repacked his bedroll, and set the pallet of blankets Malon had brought for him to sleep to order, folding the blankets neatly and individually, setting the stack on a chair in the corner of the front room.  

"He walked into the kitchen and found a slate with a note written on it in chalk.  It read:  "We let you sleep in.  Our noon meal is usually cold, though the stew from last night should be even better for lunch.  I had to get to work out at the corral, so I set this cold meal for you to break fast.  I'll see you out at the corral.  Malon."

Link was quite famished, and he quickly ate the meal set before him, feeling the rush of healing energy as he drank the Lon-Lon Milk, and also noticing a similar effect putting the butter on the slices of bread with the fruit preserves as Navi told him to.

Having eaten every scrap, Link said, "Must be a healthy but extravagant lot, having healing potions to eat and drink every day!"

Navi disagreed, reminding him, "Not at all, Link.  Only the produce of _their_ cows has this effect, and only on _Kokiri._  Other people who raise cows also eat lots of milk, butter, cheese, and beef, because they have a lot _of_ it!  Corn farmers eat more bread, and people who grow many cabbages eat lots of cabbage.

"But why are _you_ complaining?" the fairy asked.

"I've much to complain _about,_ Navi!  Just not with this wonderful meal, nor with the hospitality my uncle and cousin have given me.  Seems most of my complaints have to do with a Gerudo thug whom I can't even try finding, much less pursue, for two more days!"

"Glad you see it, Link!  That means that you can have Malon show you how to ride Epona better.  Let's go now, budge along!"

Link grabbed his sword, pack and shield and put them on, glaring at Navi the whole time.  The fairy asked, "What _now,_ Link?"

The Kokiri answered sullenly, "Don't treat me like a child!"

"Then don't act like one!  You _are_ only eleven, still, no matter how big your body is!  And even for your people, and even for _you,_ that's still young.  How many more years would it be before you could speak in council and be listened to?"

Link answered, "Seven years, if I were a _normal_ Kokiri who'd lived a _normal_ life."

"Right again.  But you _don't have_ seven years to finish honing your judgement and maturity.  So, I'll keep you from making a fool of yourself as best I can, _if you'll let me!"_

Link regained his good humour as he walked out into the sunshine, answering in his mind, "As if I could stop you, Navi.  Just as well, really.  It's not like we have seven _chances,_ either."  Navi agreed silently to herself 

     Epona was once again waiting for them, having roused herself as she heard Link eating breakfast.  Link mounted her, and rode out toward the corral.

     Malon had indeed been busy that morning.  In addition to tending to the horses and cattle they had grazing, and setting some of the feed corn out for the animals, she had taken some of the portable fence sections from inside the corral, and set them _outside, _where the racing track ran around the outside of the corral fence.

     Link rode up to the corral gate, where Malon, mounted on _her_ horse, waited.  "Good morning, Fairy Boy!" she shouted as Link approached.  When they sat on their horses next to each other, she added, "Sleep will?  Was your breakfast ok?"

     The large Kokiri answered, "Yes, thanks.  Both my rest and my meal were wonderful.  I folded the blankets and set them on a chair, since I won't be able to stay the night again tonight."

     As Malon started to look sad, Link added, "I'll visit when I can, but I have to see Jardain tonight, to make sure he records your mortgage as 'paid in full,' and to see how his business is doing.

     "But we have all morning, and most of the afternoon, to ride and visit, which as pretty as you are is probably more than Saria would approve of anyway, even with our being cousins!" Link finished brightly.

     Malon's good humour returned, and she retorted, "Quit being mean to your life-mate, Fairy Boy!  'Specially since she's not here to defend herself!"  She gasped in horror at hurting Link's feelings even as she saw him choke back the tears!

     Link regained some composure and said, "Think nothing of it, Malon!  I sense she's still alive and unharmed.  Besides, I can't free her until I've had my father's sword re-forged, which won't be done until the day after tomorrow.  So, I can either have fun with you, learn to ride better, and help with the farm chores, or I can sulk off somewhere and pout until then.  Either way, three days is three days, and if I go without the sword, I'll die for sure, and Saria will _never_ be freed.

     Link finished back in full cheer, "So, you wanted to race me?"

     Malon laughed, and answered, "Of course!  But, this isn't like your race with Ingo."

     Link answered, "Then you won't cheat, and I won't try to kill you?"

     Malon laughed, and said, "No.  But you _will_ have to ride with some skill.  See the fence pieces laid our around the track?"  Link nodded.  She said, "You and Epona will have to go around the track, jumping those fence pieces, and do it faster than me!  And I've been riding far longer than you!  Think you can do it?"

     Like most Kokiri, Link wasn't nearly as chauvinistic as Hylean men were, and he knew he had just started riding.  He also knew that Epona was a much better horse than most, and seemed to like jumping things.  He answered, "Epona can beat you easily.  Now, doing that with _me_ riding her is a bit of a question, so let's try it."

     They cantered over to the starting line, lining up with Malon on the inside to ride a clockwise circuit of the track.  Malon asked, "Do you want to start us?"

     Link nodded, saying, "Mark… Set… _Go!"_

     Both riders took off in a flash, riding side by side at first!  As they rode into the back straightaway, Link pulled into the lead, leaping over each fence as they rode along.  The entered the last turn with Link ahead by one length.  This grew into a length and a half as they entered the home stretch.  Malon was just closing to within half a length as they crossed the finish line!

     Malon exclaimed, "Great riding!  Epona really likes you!"

     "Not at the end, though" Link said.  "The bridle and reins got in my way."  Link dismounted, took the harness off of Epona's head, and hung it over the corral fence by the gate.  Link said, "The horse is perfect, but the harness is a bit too much.  You need it much more than I do."

     Malon was amazed.  She said, "You can ride without reins?"

     Link answered honestly, "Most Kokiri I know of who can ride never use them."  He mounted Epona again, and they cantered back to the starting line, again with Malon on the inside.

     Malon said "Two out of three?"

     As Link said "Yes," Malon said "GO!"

     Again they rode the circuit of the track.  This time, they were half-way through the back straightaway before Link passed Malon, because of the four length head start she had given herself.  This time, Link was two lengths ahead when they finished.

     As they cantered back to the starting line, Malon asked "Three out of five?"  Link nodded his assent.

     "Four out of seven?" Malon asked the next time.

     "Five out of nine?" she asked after the next lap.

     "Six out of thirteen?" she asked after the next lap.

     "Seven out of fifteen?" she sobbed.

     "Can't you just let me win, for once already!" she exclaimed in frustration after the eighth straight loss.

     Link answered, "Why don't we just canter slowly about and talk?  Or, perhaps you can show me other things I'll need to do.  I know I can ride fast, and jump over things.  But that isn't all there is to riding, is there?"

     Malon answered, "I can teach you to cloverleaf, but only if you promise not to beat me too badly, and help set up the fence pieces."

     Link answered, "Sounds like fun."

     Within half an hour, the two of them had quickly rounded up the fence pieces and set three of them up in a triangle formation.  They both mounted their horses again, and Malon explained cloverleaving.

     "Cloverleaving is also called 'barrel-racing,' because it's normally done with barrels.  It means to ride _around_ the fences in a pattern like the leaves of a clover, as fast as you can, without hitting any of the barrels, or in our case fence pieces.

For ranchers and herders, this is practice for using your horse to keep animals from straying away from the herd.  For a fighting noblemen like yourself, this would help you to ride about to the weak side of an opposing mounted fighter to strike him with your sword, or to run down an enemy foot solder, closing with him from an angle where he can't bring his spear or sword to bear quickly enough."

     Link said, "Sounds like great practice, especially with you.  If I get better than _you_ at this, I'd _have_ to be better than any _Gerudo._

     Malon answered, "Not quite.  The Gerudo are almost _born_ in the saddle, and I heard they can even shoot arrows while riding!  But, at least you will be better prepared.  Let's try it!"

     Malon rode through the fences first, to demonstrate to Link what he needed to do.  Link then rode the course, weaving between the left column going out, and the right column coming back.  He wasn't quite as fast as Malon seemed that time, but was real close.

     On the second attempt, and each one thereafter, he was not only faster than Malon, but also got faster with each attempt!  Link cantered up to Malon, slightly winded but more exhilarated and happier than he had been in ages.  He almost gushed to his cousin, "This is the most fun I've had in _ages!_ What else can you show me?"

     Malon, who was facing towards the house and barn answered, "Not much.  But Dad and…" she paused, making a grim face before choosing a name rather than an epithet before continuing, "…Ingo are bringing some of your father's old 'toys' out, and they'll probably show you quite a bit.

     Link wheeled about to look.  Sure enough, Talon and Ingovard were indeed coming into the corral.  Talon was driving his horse cart.  In it were what appeared to be several odd spears, and some strange contraption made up of wooden cross-beams.  Ingo rode beside the cart, carrying one of the strange spears in his right hand, with the point up, and the base of the handle resting on a flat spot on his saddle.  They stopped twenty paces from Link.  Ingovard dismounted, and leaned his strange spear against the wagon.  Talon climbed down from the wagon, and the two men set up the strange cross-beam device next to the wagon, weighting the base of it down further with cut-to-fit stones that each weighed seven stones.

     The strange device stood as tall as a man on horseback.  On one end of the crossbeam was a wooden mock-up of a shield, with a target painted upon it.  On the other end of the cross-beam was a heavy looking leather bag hanging from a short length of rope.  The device looked as if it had been refurbished expertly but the night before, having been neglected for many years before that.  And, the appearances were entirely true.

     Talon got back on the wagon and said, "Here's where I get out of the way, my lord nephew!  I've never rode a day in my life!  But, if you don't think I whupped on Ingo hard enough yesterday, here's your chance to see him whup himself!

     Ingo looked at Talon and said, "That's entirely unfair, my lord!"

     Talon answered, "You're still a squire, and you saved Romani's life.  Talon will do.  Besides, did you _ever win_ against his lordship's contraption?"

     Ingo answered, "I'm only a farm-hand, Talon, by my own offences.  And you know I haven't.  But today is a new day.  Just _maybe_ a farm hand will pass where a child-squire could not!  The big thing is that _his lordship_ defeat it!"

     Ingo turned to Link, who was still mounted, and kneeled flat to the ground.  He said, "Permission to speak to you, my lord?"  
     Link answered, "Stand up, Ingo.  We'll talk about farm-hand or squire some other day.  But tell me now about this strange machine, and the odd spears you carry."

     Ingo stood up, and his demeanour changed to that of a teacher, albeit a teacher to a pupil of much higher social rank.  "The machine is called a 'quintaine,' my lord.  The 'spears' are called 'lances.'  A lance is a special kind of spear used by horsemen.  By galloping at full speed with the lance, and holding it firmly as you spear your target or opponent, you can kill or seriously maim them.  The quintaine is a practice target used with the lance.

     You charge the quintaine with your lance, aiming for the bull's-eye of the target.  If you hit the bull's-eye squarely, and continue to charge at a steady speed, you do well.  Hit off-centre, or slow down, and the leather bag full of sand hits you in the back and knocks you off of your horse.  Let me demonstrate."

     Ingo walked to the quintaine, and squared it up.  He picked up his lance, and remounted his horse.  Ingo rode briskly to the far end of the corral, wheeled about, and charged!  He rode full-tilt at the quintaine, and struck it with his lance!  But he hit it off-centre, and hesitated slightly, as he had always done.  The quintaine cleanly unhorsed him!

     Link dismounted and ran to Ingovard, shouting, "Are you all right?" as Talon and Malon both laughed heartily at Ingo's misfortune.

     Ingo got to his knees, and said, "I'm alright, my lord."

He then looked at both Talon and Malon with hurt and anger in his eyes.  

Sizing up the situation, Link shouted. "Be done with the laughing!"  Malon and Talon both sobered up instantly.  Link added, "I understand that old habits are hard to break, and that Ingo had wronged you grievously not many days before now.  But, this quintaine appears to be a difficult task to master, one required by a man-at-arms, but neither a Franklin nor a herder!"  Malon and Talon now showed, and _felt_ true empathy for Ingovard's predicament.

Link looked back to Ingo and asked, "Did you see what you did wrong?"

Ingo shook his head, and answered, "No.  I never do, and whilst he lived, your father never told me, my lord."

Link answered, "If the understanding of the quintaine I have is true, you missed your mark.   In frustration that didn't come to the surface of your heart, yet was there still, you slowed in embarrassment and frustration.  This made you an easy mark for the weighted bag.  Let's see how well _I_ do."

Link squared up the quintaine.  He took a lance from the back of Talon's wagon, and remounted Epona.  He rode a short distance away, wheeled about, and charged!  He rode like the wind on fire to the quintaine, struck it dead on, and continued to ride!  The quintaine missed him by several feet, as it should have.

He shouted to Ingovard, "Square the quintaine!"  Ingovard did so, and Link continued to ride to the far side of the corral.  He wheeled about, changed the lance to his left hand (the first time he had held it in his right,) and again charged the quintaine at full tilt!

This time, he visualized the target as being Ganondorf himself, and gave no quarter at all to it!  He struck the target, again dead-centre!  But this time, the lance literally exploded in a cloud of splinters!  Link hesitated slightly at this, and instinctively leaned forward.  The weighted bag missed him, but he felt its passing, and had he not leaned forward he would have been struck.

Ingovard and Talon both shouted loudly and merrily in acclimation!  Malon wasn't nearly so enthusiastic, but clapped merrily just the same.  As he slowed, Link asked silently, "What did I do wrong, Navi?  Why did the lance burst?  And why are they _cheering_ me for it?"

She answered in his mind as he slowed Epona and turned her around, "You slowed down slightly when the lance broke.  Fortunately, you also leaned forward, so the bag missed you by several inches.  Otherwise, it was a perfect run!  When practicing with blunted spears with either the quintaine or other riders, to break a lance is actually a good thing.  It suggests that the power of your charge was more than the lance could bear, and makes you look even better!  Just don't go breaking lances in a _real_ fight, if we ever have to use them."

Link rode up to the three Hyleans.  Malon shouted, "Bravo, Link!  Just don't slow down to admire the splinters next time!"

Ingovard exclaimed, "Best charge I've seen since the last time I watched your father practice."  Link suddenly had a thought, and rode to Ingo.

Link said, "But I want to see one better than that.  Mount your horse, Ingo!"  Ingovard quickly mounted his steed.  Link then said, "Grab a lance, and ride with me!"  Ingo was stunned, but did as Link told him.

Link shouted to Talon, "Square it!" as he and Ingovard rode to the far side of the corral.  Link said to his father's squire, "I'll coach you to hit the target correctly.  If I find need of your lance, I'll need it _desperately._  Better now than then to give you a quick lesson, eh?"  Ingovard nodded, his mouth now dry as cotton wool.

Link commanded, "Wheel about!"  Ingovard turned to face the target.  Link commanded, "Lance down!"  Ingovard lowered his lance.  Link commanded, "Charge!" and both horsemen were off!

Link constantly coached Ingo as they charged, having him adjust his speed and aim.  Ingovard struck the target almost dead on, sped up slightly, and rode clear!  He had finally beaten the quintaine!

The two riders slowed to a canter, turned around, and stopped facing the quintaine again.  Link shouted, "Square it!"  Talon squared the quintaine.  Link said quietly, "We've proved you can do it, Ingo.  This time, it's all you.  Get a good aim, don't second-guess your aim, and don't slow down for _anything!  Go_"

Ingo charged the quintaine again, this time by himself!  He rode at the target at full-tilt, struck it cleanly and dead on, and rode away unscathed!  He slowed to a canter, turned, and rode back to the quintaine.  He and Link met at the quintaine and dismounted.  Link said, "Enough of the quintaine today.  I'll need to rub Epona down quickly, and I want to dine with you all again before I leave for Kakariko."  Link, Talon, and Ingovard worked together and loaded the quintaine and lances back into the wagon.  Talon took the wagon, with Ingovard following, and rode to the stables to put the stuff away.

Link and Malon remounted their horses and rode slowly towards the stables.  Malon asked, "How hard does the quintaine hit back, anyhow?

Link answered, "The bag weighs over five stone, and hits very quickly.  Ingovard is not a small man, and it took him cleanly off of his horse!  I think I know what you're wondering—don't even _think_ of trying the quintaine yourself!"

They arrived wordlessly at the stable, and put away the horses, or at least Malon put away hers.  She showed Link, on her horse, how to remove the saddle and saddle blanket, and how to check the horse's hooves, brush them, and see to their health.  Only then did she let her horse drink from the trough.  Epona, though not bound or handled in any way, had also not drank, until the other horse started.  Then, she too drank.

Malon shook her head in wonderment and said, "Link, your horse is almost 'maintenance-free.'  It's a wonder horses still live wild, anywhere.  They will drink too soon after working hard, get sick, and die.  They will eat too much of the wrong kind of food, or just eat too much sometimes, and again get sick.  Epona's _never_ been like that, unlike every other horse I've ever seen!

She doesn't need to be brushed, checked, or watched!  She eats only what she needs, drinks only when it won't hurt her, and has never been sick a day in her life!"

Link answered, "Just the horse for some idiot from the woods who would kill an ordinary horse from neglect in less than a day?"

Malon retorted, "I didn't mean _that!_"

Link answered, "Well, I did!  Thank the goddesses, and _you_, that you gave me Epona.  I haven't a clue how I'd take care of an ordinary horse and still have the time to do what I have to!"  Link chastely kissed Malon on the cheek.  

She blushed deeply, and said, "You're welcome, Link.  Did that mean anything?"

He answered, "Nothing romantic.  Kokiri kiss romantically only on the lips.  A kiss on the cheek shows especially strong gratitude or especially strong emotions of affection to a brother, sister, or a cousin.  A kiss on the forehead is given to your own child, and on rare occasions to a niece or nephew.  Otherwise, Kokiri don't kiss at all."

They walked to the other end of the stable, where Talon was tending to the horses, and Ingovard was finishing putting away the quintaine.  Beside where the quintaine stood, Link saw the remaining lances, and two suits of armour.

Both suits of armour were in the Roman pattern, which Hyleans of the day favoured.  One was obviously Arliss's spare set, because of the size.  The other one, though, looked as if it would fit Ingovard rather well.  Both suits of armour were freshly polished, and looked as if they'd never seen want of care.

Ingovard turned and said, "I've never seen either of you here before, but look about.  This, my lord, is your father's spare suit of armour.  I've kept it up well over the years, why, I'm not sure.  Your father gave the other set to me.  He only guessed that I'd grow into it someday. It actually fits quite well.  But as I'm sure _you'll_ need it…"

Link interrupted, "Kokiri don't _wear_ armour, Ingo.  We don't _need_ it.  But you _might._  Keep up the good work.  Are we almost done here, Talon?"

Talon, who himself seldom entered that part of the barn, answered, "Right you are, my lord!  Let's go eat!"

The three of them walked back to the house, and into the kitchen in turn.  Link washed up quickly.  Talon and Ingovard also cleaned up, after Malon told them coldly, "No clean, no bean!"  Malon then served up the 'bean,' in this case more of the stew from the evening before, along with a bowl of brownish beans in a brown gravy.  Link looked at the beans doubtfully.

Malon told him, "Apart from some of their horses, this is the only thing of value the Gerudo produce!  They call these beans, 'Pinto.'  They cook up as easily as other beans.  They can also be mashed into a paste after they've been cooked, cooked again in a skillet with bacon grease, and make a rather tasty meal all by themselves."

True to Malon's word, the pinto and stew, along with bread, water, and milk, made a sound and filling feast.  Link helped Malon clear the dishes away over her protests as Talon and Ingovard continued to sit at the table.  Link quickly rejoined them as Malon cleaned the dishes alone, at her instance.

Link asked, "So, Talon, what _did_ you borrow money for?"

Talon answered matter-of-factly, "Horses, my lord.  And I paid back a lot of the money, too.  Got caught in hard times though.

"Can't tell you much, because of what you said last night.  I _can_ tell you this.  I bought the horses from the Gerudo, before everyone knew fer sure they was in on what happened to King Harkinian.  They overcharged me, and tried to cheat me too!  But, I made 'em honour their bargain, and they sold me some of the finest young stallions and mares they had!  You seen I got a lot more horses now?  Well, I planned to raise 'em myself, as good or better than the Gerudo themselves!  An' I did, too!  You seen Malon's horse, and Ingo's, and the other horses!  Can't hold a candle to Epona, but _she's_ one _strange_ horse!

"Couldn't breed her, couldn't have her pull things, _no one _could _never_ ride her!  Kept her like you'd keep a cat, just because you liked her, not because she would ever _do_ anythin'!

"But she showed what she _is_ good for, all right!  She's good fer bein' _your_ horse!  An' that's good enough fer me!"

Link turned to Ingovard and asked, "Can you read?"

He answered, "Not a jot, I, nor Talon, either.  We were never taught how, and never found the need to learn on our own.  Malon has done what book keeping and book learning was needed."

"Ingo, Did Ganondorf give you any papers when he said he gave the ranch to you?"

"Yes, My lord.  I gave them to Talon, though, because it's _his_ ranch."

"Talon, may I see the papers?"

Talon answered Link, "Sure.  Can _you_ read?"

The Kokiri answered, "I read Hylean, Sheikah, Goron, Zora, Gerudo, and Kiriál, the language of my people."

Ingo and Talon both exclaimed, "Shooot!"  Talon added, "You Kokiri must be much smarter than they say, and even smarter than they _used_ to say!"

Link said, "I wouldn't go that far, but I can read.  May I see the papers?"

"Sure, Link.  Let me get 'em."

While Talon went for the papers, Link asked silently, "Navi, what did he mean?"

She answered in his mind, "We already talked about that.  Remember?"  Link nodded to Navi as Talon brought the papers down.  Talon handed the papers to Link, who looked at them carefully.

He didn't need to know what mortgages and royal land grants looked like to know he held neither.  They would fool someone who couldn't read, but anyone else would plainly see that one was a "Royal Proclamation for a Happy Samhain," and the other was a rather ornate score sheet for a card game between the Earl of Lake Hylia, the Lord Mayor of Hyrule Castle Town, the Lord-Mayor of Clock Town, and King Harkinian!  Link laughed riotously at the papers, causing Talon and Ingovard some concern.

Link looked up and said, "Relax.  Both papers are fakes, though rather clever ones.  The real proclamation of ownership for this ranch, unlike most such documents in this realm, is safe in Jardain's counting house!  As is the mortgage itself.  When I arrive in Kakariko tonight, I will see that the mortgage is taken care of.  I'll have Jardain hold the deed to this place until Hyrule Castle Town is set back to rights, and it can be put back in the Hall of the King's Records.  May I have these?

Talon answered, "Sure!  I have the real ranch, I have your real word on it, take all the fake papers you can carry!"

Ingovard looked even more morose than he had.  Link, guessing the reason, said, "To betray what is right, to sell out to evil for _anything_ is wrong, Ingovard.  Whether Ganondorf gave you the real deed or not, you would have held this place only at his pleasure.  Such men don't honour their word except that it pleases them at the moment.

Link stood and pocketed the papers.  He put his sword, shield, and pack back on and said, "But _today,_ Ingovard, you're not only forgiven of your wrongs, but you've bested the quintaine!  The care of your duties has been seen!  You may _yet_ become a knight of the realm!

"Be honest and brave.  Do what is right.  Doing this is truly its own reward.  Yet, the flashier things may still honestly come to you in these hard times!  Be ready to do your duty, and do it; you will be cheered in this land by all who are righteous."  Link solemnly shook Ingo's hand.

He turned to Malon and said, "You gave me my horse seven years ago, a gift you honoured again but days ago, when it was truly needed.  You showed me great compassion and hospitality without any thought of reward.  Thank you cousin."  He shook her hand, and again kissed her chastely on the cheek.  She blushed in utter embarrassment.

Talon said, deflating the moment, "So, yer hittin' the road, nephew.  Come back soon.  Shake my hand too, though I don't see how _I've_ earned it!  Jes' don' kiss me, unless you want the road hitting you first!"  They all laughed at that.

Link said as he shook Talon's hand, "You've shown me real kindness and hospitality, _túncl_."  Link added with just a touch of embarrassment, "And, you've done even better than my fairy at not letting me get _too_ pompous."  They all laughed again.

Link walked to the door.  As he walked out, Malon shouted, "Go with fortune, _Fairy Boy!_"

He answered, "And all of you, kinsmen!" as he mounted Epona.  He wheeled about and broke into a full gallop as the sun started to set over the west ridge of the plateau.     


	10. The Sword of Ages

Chapter 10 

Link arrived at the Kakariko steps just after dark.  He dismounted and said, "I'll be leaving you here for a while, Epona.  Take care of yourself, and listen for my call."  The horse snorted, and nuzzled Link affectionately.

     Warrior and Fairy ascended the Kakariko steps and ran into Kakariko village.  They ran to the door of Jardain's counting house.  Link knocked on the door.

     Susannah opened the door immediately and said, "We saw Navi's light as you approached, my lord!  Please come in.

     As Link entered, he heard a young boy shout, "Uncle Link come see me!  Uncle Link come see me!"  The source of the voice came up and in to view in the body of a young boy, not quite four years old, looking mostly like Susannah, with just a touch of Arthur.  The boy shouted, "Uncle Link!  Hammie miss you!" as he grabbed Link's legs in a bear hug.  The child sobbed, "Hammie miss you, Uncle Link!  Hammie miss you real bad!"

     Link picked up the boy and looked in his face.  He answered, "I missed you too."  

As Link embraced the boy, Arthur stage-whispered, "Arthur Hamutoro, after me and her father.  We call him 'Hammie.'"

     Link set the boy down on the floor.  He got down on his haunches and said, "I missed you too, young Hamutoro.  How have you been?"

     Link guessed perfectly how he had addressed the child in the past.  The child answered, "Great, Uncle Link!  Grampa Big-Hammie and Mama have been teaching me how to write my name in rune-word and picture-word!  Wanna see?"

     Link answered, "Sure" before he realized that there was nothing for the child to write on, or with!  As a young boy, Link had written in the dust when _he_ practiced writing, but on the immaculate stone and wood floor of the counting house, there _was_ no dust!  Once again Hammie came to the rescue, saying, "Me get little blackboard and chalk from my room!"  With a flash, the child ran back downstairs.

     Susannah said quietly, "He loves you almost as much as he does us!  I'd have had him at my parent's place if I'd have known… 

     "Nonsense, Susannah" Link gently chided the woman.  He's a bit energetic, but what four-year old isn't?"

     True to the vigour of his age, Hammie returned with his slate and chalk, and for the next half-hour entertained Link with writing his own name, and Link's, too.  Finally, Susannah interrupted the both of them saying, "Supper is ready!  Wash up, Hammie."  The child protested, but not much, and washed his hands, followed by Link himself.  The non-spiders ate quietly, and Susannah started clearing the plates.  Arthur stood up and said, "Bed-time, Hammie."

     The child protested, saying, "Why me no stay up late tonight?  I big boy now!  Uncle Link never visit always!  Me wanna visit Uncle Link!"

     The child's heart was in it for the long fight!  Fortunately, his body wasn't, and he not only acquiesced, but when he put his head down to build up a head of steam for a _big_ fit fell asleep instead.  Arthur picked up his son and carried the boy off to his room.  

Susannah walked back in to the great room and said, "I'm surprised Hammie was that wilful!  Normally, when you're around, he's on his best behaviour!  But it _has_ been a while since you visited us last, especially for such a young child."

Link replied, "Not a problem."  Arthur and Edgar walked back into the room.  Jonathan, Richard, and Jardain himself lowered themselves out of their lairs in the rafters.  Louis, who had been strangely silent that evening, finally spoke.

"So, my lord, have you straightened the false mortgage deed with Talon?" he asked.

Link answered, "Yes.  I also had to straighten out some attitudes, but nothing life-threatening.  I understand you had a bank run because of this?"

Jardain himself answered.  "Actually, Link, we've had _two._  But fortunately, your fortune helped out both times.

"If I've told you this already in _your_ memory, please ignore it.  But with the way _you_ live time…"

"Think not of it, Jardain."

"Yes.  As you may or may not know, a counting house ideally loans out eight times the money it has on hand.  If you deposit one rupee, I then loan out eight.  With just one rupee, it makes no sense.  But when you have thousands of rupees, and remember that the money is almost never loaned to just _one_ person, it actually works quite well.  That is, unless you have a bank run.

"But your fortune helped us out immeasurably.  Between the value of the curse-tokens, and the rupees you deposited with us, we had no way in this economy to responsibly loan all the money out!  So, we had a lot of 'idle money' on our hands, at least until Ganondorf struck.

"You, of course, weren't our only depositor.  As people realized they wouldn't be cursed or eaten by doing business with us, people brought their money back.  But, we're talking peasants and burghers, a few dozen rupees here, a few dozen there.  Important accounts, all, but compared to _yours,_ small potatoes.

"Ganondorf recently decided he wanted to mess with Talon.  How recently, you've forbidden me to say.  I don't know why for sure, but I'm sure you have plenty of guesses, and as evil as Ganondorf is, any or all could be true.  He knew somehow, that Talon had fallen on hard times.  With Hyrule Castle Town levelled, and with two bad corn harvests, he was having trouble making his payments.  I was stern with him, as you might imagine.  But since I also knew that he was related to you, foreclosing on him was out of the question.  And, so was selling his note."

Link asked, "What do you mean by 'selling a note?'  I didn't know this was done."

"Actually, Link, it's done quite routinely, in nations and realms with many counting houses, for many reasons.  When a counting house takes money on deposit, they usually agree to pay the depositor, who owns the money, usury in exchange for borrowing the money, just like someone would rent a house, a horse, or a cow.  Normal deposits specify that the usury is paid at a rate for the time the money is held.

"When someone _borrows_ money from a counting house, they agree in advance how quickly the money will be returned, whether it will be in instalment payments or in a lump sum, and how much usury is paid to the counting house, who in this case 'owns' the money, or actually is 'renting' the money from the depositors, and re-renting it at a higher rate to the borrower.

"A counting house can also 'sell' the contract to whoever will buy it, at whatever price they can get.  The borrower still owes what he owes, but just owes it to someone other than who he borrowed it from.  A debt is a thing, like any other, and can be sold or traded. 

"But anyway, Ganondorf tried several times to 'buy' Talon's mortgage through other people.  But I would never sell it to anyone, and especially not to someone I suspected was connected with the Gerudo, who are notorious for not paying what they owe!

"So, Ganondorf came up with some kind of forgeries of the contract I made with Talon, and the land grant itself.  And, to keep me from pointing it out for the fraud it was, he had a bank run made on me!

"But, as I said, I couldn't possibly loan out all of your money; there was just too much of it!  So, when every idiot Ganondorf could have frightened into drawing their money came, I paid out every dime they could legitimately claim.

"Ganondorf then sent out descendants of people who had been paid off when your father cursed me."  Link squirmed nervously.

Jardain said, "No matter Link, all is forgiven by all, but what's done is done.  Like I was saying, all those people, who had been paid in full by King Harkinian, suddenly show up at my door claiming that no, they hadn't been paid at all.  So, I paid them."

Link exclaimed, "What?  That's _stealing_ of some kind or another!"

"Of course it is, Link.  But, to keep people from thinking I had run off with their money, I paid every rupee, _including usury,_ from the day I was cursed and had to take my eleven year 'vacation.'

"And, it's paid off!  Some of the depositors have actually brought their money _back._"

"I hope you told them where to put it!" Link exclaimed angrily.

"I did, actually, Link" Edgar interjected.  "I told them to put it on the counter, recorded it, and gave them the receipts for it."

"But after…" Link sputtered.

"We _won_ that battle, Link!" exclaimed Jardain.  "Ganondorf tried to break my counting house, and _failed!_  He tried _several_ foreclosures, Talon's being only the most dishonest!  But none of my borrowers were hurt, since I wouldn't sell my notes to anyone else, and none of my depositors lost any money!

"Now if _you_ tried drawing out all your money, I'd be in real trouble.  I've only got gold on hand to pay _two thirds_ of what you have on account with me."

Link almost shouted angrily at Jardain for losing a third of his money.  Then, he realized, that the money was indeed loaned out.  But another thought occurred to him.

His deposits, _alone,_ covered what could be called _two_ bank runs!  Jardain said nothing about trying to get back money early from those who had borrowed it.

Link asked, "Did you try to collect any money owed to you before it was actually due?"

Jardain replied, "Of course not, Link!  That's the other thing Ganondorf was trying for.  He wanted people to default on their loans, and he wanted me to try collecting early to cover withdrawals by depositors.  But, I _never_ had to try collecting money before it was owed.  In fact, with the realm in the shambles its in, I've had several otherwise responsible borrowers get into trouble besides Talon!  But, in every case, I've been able to reduce usury rates and extend payments, so they could weather through these times."

Link thought again.  Jardain was able to cover two bank runs, and extend numerous loans that would have otherwise gone into default, and let others pay no more quickly then they had agreed to in the first place!  And Jardain said that he had done so from _Link's_ accounts!  How much money _did_ he have with them?

Link asked, "Can you tell me how much money I have here?"

Jardain answered, "Not to the last rupee, but I see your concern.

"There were other depositors who didn't draw out their money unless needed.  That was a big help.  But you have in excess of 1.2 _million_ rupees in total here.  Some of that is from the curse tokens, some from usury, and some of that is what you've deposited in cash.  You've forbid me from giving details, and I hope I'm not disobeying your word in saying this, but you've been one busy and prosperous young man."

Link was utterly stunned.  Jardain asked, "Are you all right, Link?"

Link answered, "I guess so.  But that's so much money it isn't _real_ anymore!  As I live time, I'm not even twelve years old.  In my tenth year, I made less than five _hundred_ rupees, and wasn't that bad off!  I had food when I needed it, a place to sleep, and clothes on my back.  _Then,_ I only wanted a few dozen rupees more, that I could make some jewellery for Saria.  I've got more money now than I can even imagine!  Yet, I'm not the least bit happy about it.  If I could go back to my tenth year, and be free of what I know now, I'd give it _all, _and if someone were fool-hardy enough to loan it, I'd give it all _again._"

Jardain answered, "Money can not buy _happiness,_ Link.  It is no more and no less than a tool; it's a way of measuring work, skill, and ingenuity, that they may be traded for food, shelter, and clothing.  Happiness is where you find it.  At best, it provides some of the things to preserve what makes us happy, but the rest is always up to us."

Link said, "I want to go to sleep, now.  I have to climb up Death Mountain tomorrow to finish reclaiming my father's sword.  Biggoron the Smith is re-forging it, and it should be ready the day after tomorrow.  As soon as I have it, I shall start clearing the temples of Ganondorf's evil.  If the goddesses still love this land, or even care that it still exists, I hope to defeat Ganondorf for all time.

     "But before I forget, Jardain, Talon's mortgage is paid in full.  Take it from my accounts, whatever, but Talon owes your counting house no money at all."

     Jardain answered, "As you wish, my lord.  Do you wish to sleep in the great room tonight?"

     "No, Jardain.  I will want to sleep in tomorrow, and though you would make whatever accommodations I need, you still have a business to run.  With what has passed recently, I insist you maintain your normal hours without having customers disturb my sleep."

     "It's as you wish, Link" the giant arachnid answered.  Edgar showed Link to his own room in the basement, decorated generously with bags of Link's gold and rupees as there was so much of Link's money that they had to keep it where it would fit.  Link removed his boots and tunic, and climbed into the bed.  He slept a fitful but dreamless sleep until the following noon.        

Link and Navi returned to the summit of Death Mountain late in the evening of the second day.  Biggoron was still re-forging the sword.  Link sat down to wait.  He took out his ocarina and tried to call Saria again.  This time, he could sense her presence!  There's _hope!  He continued to play.  _

He relived memories of his live, _their_ life together.  Though they were only married a few short weeks, they had grown up together, and the last few years were _almost_ as if married.  They walked together.  They imagined for each other what their parents would have been like.  They shared their dreams.  They were always close friends, and were usually closer than that.  He relived small quarrels they'd had.  He almost regretted those.  But they always reconciled quickly.  And the making up was so fun that they almost wanted to quarrel more so they could make-up more.  They made up more anyway, without quarrelling.  

He played some more.  This time, she was able to _talk_ to him!  Just a couple of words, but words from _her!  She said "Link!  I can't talk, you're too far away!  __I'm too far away!  I don't know where I am!  But I know I'm safe for now!  I'm somewhere in the Forest Temple.  I feel you are getting something you must have to free me.  Treasure our memory while you wait!  But __please hurry!  It's been so long…"  _

With that, she faded out.  But _he felt her!  He heard her!  He remembered the only other time he was scared that he'd lose her.  It was the morning that they proposed to each other instead.  Mido had her so convinced that he would run off with Zelda, after saving the whole world, that she had already closed her thoughts to him.  She had decided to get his leaving her over with.  She was already grievously hurt, and might have died.  He didn't know at the time.  But he __did know that he could never turn her away.  He also knew that he could never hold her if it was not right.  He __couldn't trust his own judgement then, and there was no one else to turn to.  _

He opened his heart _completely_ to her that morning!  He was surprised how much he still had not shown her, for she had seen so much.  He spoke from the heart, and might even have spoke well.  He didn't remember.  But she saw _everything in his heart, for good and bad.  She saw all his failings.  The times he forgot her birthday until she reminded him.  The times where he was tempted by the attentions of April, one of the twin sisters who were just older than Saria.  The times he thought crossly about her.  _

But she also saw the times where he thought of her without thinking of himself.  The times when she was sick, and his clothes never seemed to need mending, because she was too tired to do it.  The times when he was so tired from the nightmares, yet snuck her breakfast in to her before _she woke.  How he never envied her the time she spent with others, being glad for the time she spent with him.  How he was always there when she needed him.  Then, she did something even more surprising, yet less so.  She opened her heart to him!_

He was surprised by how much _she_ had held back.  How sometimes, she was almost tempted by Mido.  How her accidentally sewing the buttons to his shorts on the wrong side was _not accidental inattention, but deliberate, because she thought he was paying too much attention to April.  How she had not been nearly as frightened as he thought when she had her first period, but felt he needed to comfort her more than she needed comforting.  __Neither of them was perfect, but they were perfect for _each other!_  Then, they __knew.  It wasn't a matter of when, but a matter of _now_._

As sure as they were, it should have been easy.  And their acceptance of each other's pledges was.  But giving the pledges?  

They were both nervous.  He didn't even realize at first that she had started proposing.  She was so nervous that she just _gave_ him the ocarina!  She got so flustered that she almost took it back out of his hand!  But once she started, she remembered the words.  The nervous tremor in her voice made the traditional invitation that much more _real_, more endearing.  And whatever Kokiri of old invented their way of pledging marriage had never done it in battle gear on a dew covered bridge.  As he did the traditional dance, he almost fell on his ass, _twice!  That bridge was slick!  And who knows where he would have pulled that ocarina from, instead of from over his heart, if he had not been wearing his sword, shield, spare clothes, and bedroll on his back!  _

But they both made it, each accepted the other, and were truly happy.  Had fate pushed them any further, they would have played their marriage vows, forgot the week, and had their first coupling right there!  But, they did manage to wait.

He remembered their wedding, how innocent it had been.  Since they had dressed each other so many times, and since they had each made all the other's clothes for years, they skipped that part of the ceremony.  They exchanged songs, embraced each other, and started playing.  

They played all night, and on into the sunrise.  Though neither had told the other of a date, they both knew that it was time.  The bonding of their hearts was strengthened that night, and each grew even closer to the other.  They were able to speak to each other now through their ocarinas.  This had helped Link greatly to now.  It was their song that had broken King Darunia's fugue, allowing Link to get the Fire Ruby.  It was Saria who knew the legend of the Magic Beans, and where to plant them.  He would not be waiting for the Sword of Ages now, had he not planted three of those beans, on her advice.  It was Saria again who remembered the legend of the third Great Fairy, whose gift would be needed all too soon.  And Link just realized one other thing Saria had done for him.  Their first coupling had saved Link's life, and provided hope that the Triforce could be recovered.

If he had not stopped at the Kokiri Forest, he would have arrived earlier at the Palace.  But he would have had to have seen Princess Zelda to get the Ocarina of Time, for he had not yet held the Master Sword, making the Ocarina unnecessary.  Ganondorf already had his agents in the castle.  He would have surely captured both him and the Princess had they been there.  With the Ocarina of Time, his own knowledge of the Legends, and with Link's severed hand, Ganondorf would have breached the Temple of Time for sure.  And, with no Hero of Time to stop him, the world's enslavement to Ganondorf would have been a surety.  But he had been delayed.  And what a delay it was.

They had both planned to wait until after he had obtained the Triforce and stopped Ganondorf.  He had just stopped her from going through the shortcut to Zora's domain to attack Princess Ruto for throwing herself upon him.  They were both soaking wet, and went to the Sacred Forest Meadow to dry their clothing.    They were not tempted while their clothes were drying because they were quarrelling over Princess Ruto's unwelcome attentions.  It was also Kokiri custom that for the first coupling the couple undress each other, and they had undressed themselves.  

It was hot that day, and their clothes dried quickly.  They had both gotten dressed, and had just finished making up from their quarrel.  They had thought about coupling then, lest he not return.  They had decided not to, and were hugging each other, when the wind blew off his cap.  He thought _she_ had removed it, and removed her headband… 

They were together the rest of that day, and late into the night.  After they had finished, how many times?  They slept in each other's arms.  They awoke late in the morning.  They cleaned themselves, got dressed, and went back to the Kokiri Forest.  He then left for the castle, taking the shortcut through the Lost Woods and Goron City.  

Or did _they_?  Though he travelled alone, Saria followed somewhere behind him.  He noticed that her presence seemed _closer_, not just stronger, but thought that was just the strengthening of their bonds to each other.  And, in that last terrifying instant, before he lost all consciousness, they fought Ganondorf _together, at each other's sides, each trying to protect the other from harm!  He had raised the Sword of Time in two hands, striking a foe that couldn't be struck, to defend a life-mate who was trying to defend him, knowing all had been lost!  He was then in the Chamber of the Sages, grown to Hylean adulthood, facing Rauru.  How much time had passed…  _How much time had passed?__

Link awoke with a start.  He was wrapped in his blanket, his spare clothing a pillow.  Navi hovered over him, as she was want to do when he had first awakened.  Arliss' ghost stood at his feet.  "Son, you needed to rest, and commune with your thoughts.  There was nothing else to be done, so I laid you out comfortably.  It is just short of dawn on the third day" the spirit told him.  "I can read your thoughts at times, as you are Kokiri, and I am a friend to their ways, and loved by you.  As I am but a ghost, you cannot read mine.  But fear not, for only those of a righteous heart who are loved by you can read your mind, and only if you let them.  The poes of the field, and the monsters whom you fight can see nothing save the reflection of their own evil.

"I must tell you of your coming battles with Ganondorf.  There are places where you will need to proclaim who you are.  For you are the Duke of Hyrule, second only to the Kings among the nobility.  I passed this title to you when I died.  All those who swore fealty and allegiance to me also swore it to all who would follow.  But Ganondorf must not learn of this until the time appointed by fate.  

"He has been blinded to who you are.  Even knowing that you carry the Master Sword, and will carry the Sword of Ages, he does not see this.  If he did, he would surely kill you while he still could.  For even he knows that only the Duke of Hyrule can truly end his evil reign.  But, blinded as he is, he will only see you as a Kokiri child, barely a man, and not take you seriously.  This will give you an advantage, and you will need every one you can get.

"You will fight him on four occasions in these times.  The first, you will fight his shadow.  The second, he will not know who you are.  The third, he will not care who you are, and the last time, he will _attack_ through who you are.  

"I can also tell you how you can win.  The first time, you will win with the fury of the Sword of Ages.  The second, you will win with Arrows of Truth, balls of evil fire, and will split left from right.  The third time you will win with unexpected fire from a friend, the help of a guardian you would not have, three blades, and the power of seven.  The fourth time, you will be felled by the love of two in conflict, borne by the love of two reunited, raised by the love of two in sacred bond, win by the love of two as siblings, and change the love of one for another against your will.

"I can also solve the first riddle of defeating Ganondorf.  You will fight the ghosts of the last four keepers of the Forest Temple to gain access to Ganondorf's keep.  Once there, his shadow and its shadow will ride out of paintings to attack you.  Ignore the shadow's shadow.  Shoot Ganondorf's shadow with the bow you find in the Temple.  After shooting Ganondorf's shadow three times, it will come out to fight where you can kill it.  It will throw balls of magic lightning at you with its staff. It is protected by a magic spell.  The only thing that will interrupt the spell is a ball of its own lightning.  The lightning will not hurt it; only stun it.  But it will kill you if you are hit often enough.  My shield will stop a lightning ball, but if you use the Sword of Ages, you will not be able to raise your shield without sheathing your sword.

"You can defeat it then one of two ways.  You can hit the ball of lightning back at it with a sword to stun it, then charge it and strike it with your sword.  Or, you can charge it and swing your sword as quickly and forcefully as you can, scraping its staff as you go.  I recommend the second way.  Even with your reflexes and Navi's help, you will not hit the lightning often.  When you do return it, Ganondorf's shadow will hit it back at you with its staff.  But if you charge it, it won't get a shot off right away.  You will be forced to scrape its staff as you swing your sword because it will try to parry your swings with it.  But as your blade scrapes the staff, it will throw balls of lightning into the shadow's face.  This will stun it, allowing you to strike and hurt it.  You can do this with either sword, but the Sword of Ages will do at least twice the damage of the Master Sword with each good strike.  The Sword of Ages will also reach farther, being a two-handed blade.  This is important because Ganondorf's shadow will not tire, but you will!  Ganondorf's shadow will also retreat high out of the reach of either sword.  When it does this, get back!  You will not be able to return a shot from straight above you!  Sheath the Sword of Ages and use your shield, or return the lightning balls with your sword.  Run quickly, so you may duck the lightning balls where possible.  The shadow will soon return to where you can charge it.  When it does, attack again.

"In the Meadow Maze, you will find there are no more mad scrubs.  The maze is now guarded by magic moblins.  The maze itself is guarded with lesser moblins, armed with long spears.  They are almost invincible from the front, and their long spears prevent you from getting within sword's reach.  Hit one from behind, beneath, or above with anything, even the hookshot, and you will kill it easily.  Do not attack one from the front.  It will impale you on its spear repeatedly until you are dead or it thinks you are!  After you negotiate the maze, make sure you are fully healed, and all of your magic bottles are filled with fairies.  If you use the fairy fountain in the Meadow Maze, you will find the moblins have returned to life.  While on top of the maze, they can't touch you, and you can easily leave the meadow maze or jump to the stairs to the meadow itself and the Temple.  The last pathway atop the stairs is guarded by a greater magic moblin.  It is armed with a large war club.  The club sends shock waves along the ground that will hurt you almost as bad as being hit by the club itself.  This monster will repeatedly strike the ground at you so long as it can see you.  You can try to evade its club blows and attack with your sword, or attack from a distance with arrows or bombchus.  You must hit it three times to kill it, whatever you hit it with! 

Both monsters are part of Ganondorf's curse on the Temple.  Lift the curse, kill the monsters one last time, and they will be gone for good.

Just then, Biggoron announced, "It is time.  The sword is ready except for the final quenching promised by the Great Fairy."  Arliss' ghost told Link "You must call the Great Fairy again.  She will only answer you." Link entered the Great Fairy's Cave, followed by Arliss and the arm of Biggoron, bearing a large two-handed sword.  Biggoron said, "I noticed you looking at the sword before you entered.  I assure you that even if we didn't call the Great Fairy, this sword would be perfect.  It _is_ large, but should have perfect balance for you.  I changed the balance slightly from when your father carried it, for you are a foot and a half shorter than your father, and do not look like you will grow more than four inches if you grow more at all."

Link played Zelda's Lullaby to call the Great Fairy.  She appeared with what must have been the customary joyful shriek.  She said "Are the three of you sure you want this sword?"  All answered yes.  "For the two of you living, do you realize you could die making this sword?"  Biggoron answered yes.  

Link answered, "I did not know that.  I do know that I will die for the lack of possessing this sword.  I choose to take my chance here."  

The Great Fairy continued "I will heat the sword white hot with Din's Fire while each of you in turn holds it.  The fire will not touch you, but the heat of the sword will sear through your body, sapping you of life, except for Arliss, who will only feel pain as he's already dead.  After the quenchings with the Goron smith and the Princess's liegeman, I will heal them.  I can do nothing for you during the quenching, if you die, you die.  And to you, Link.  Know that this sword will serve you in full power in the cause of truth and righteousness, but only if you seek it in the cause of truth and righteousness.  If you seek it out of vengeance, you will die right here.  Even seeking this sword with purity of heart, the quenching may kill you.  Do you accept this?"

Link answered, "I seek this sword to help me defeat the monster Ganondorf.  I can't claim perfection of heart.  All the world, especially I, have suffered at his hands.  I am told I have almost no chance in defeating Ganondorf without this sword.  Because I am the Hero of Time, I am forced to attack Ganondorf until either he or I am dead.  Again, I say I'll take my chance here, with my own heart."  

The Great Fairy spoke.  "Link, you speak wisely, especially for one so young.  Remember that wisdom is a long and continuing road, and this sword will serve you well indeed.  We shall begin.  The sword must not touch dead stone, or the spell will fail.  It may be quenched only when I say, else the spell will fail.  It must pass from stone-flesh to spirit, to Hylean flesh and Kokiri spirit.  It must touch one of these at all times during the quenching, or the spell will fail.  We will start with the Goron.  Hold the sword up high above the water, parallel with the surface."  

She waived her hand, and the sword instantly became white-hot, hotter than molten rock.  But the sword didn't melt.  The pain seared up the Goron Giant's arm.  

The Great Fairy spoke.  "Biggoron the smith, Sworn Brother to the Ghost-Duke of Hyrule and the Duke of Hyrule, do you swear that this sword was re-forged only in the service of truth, justice, and righteousness?"  

Biggoron answered, "I do."  

The Great Fairy replied "Lower the sword slowly into the water, let it not touch dead stone."  The Master Smith did as the Great Fairy told him.

She continued "Arliss, take the sword out of the hand of the smith and raise it out of the water, parallel to its surface."  Arliss' ghost did as he was told.  

She waived her hand once, healing Biggoron completely.  Everyone appreciated this, for the giant had started to howl in the deadly pain, and his cries were heard throughout the realm.  She waived her hand again, and the sword was again white-hot.  

She continued.  "Arliss the Fierce, father of Link, the Hero of Time, in life the Duke of Hyrule, Sworn Brother of the Gorons, and Hylean Deku Tree, do you bequeath this sword to your son in the service of truth, justice, and righteousness?"  

The ghost answered, "I do, Great Fairy."  

The Great Fairy replied, "Lower the sword into the water, let it not touch dead stone."  Arliss did as he was told.

The Great Fairy looked at Link.  "Link, remove your gauntlets, and the Goron Bracelet.  Take the sword from the hand of your father's spirit.  Raise it high above the water, parallel with the surface."  

Link did the Great Fairy's bidding.  The sword instantly became white-hot again.  The Great Fairy spoke.  "Link, son of Arliss, Duke of Hyrule, Sworn Brother of the Gorons, Protector of the Zoras, Regent of the Gerudo, Hylean Deku Tree, Hero of Time.  Do you claim this sword to serve all this realm, protect her from all who threaten her, and serve her in truth, justice, and righteousness for as long as you shall live?"  

Link was near to death.  The pain was beyond all description.  The heat from the sword was singeing his hair, scorching his clothes.  Had he been able to smell at the moment, he would have smelled his own body burning.  He was almost unable to speak, but managed to answer, "I do, Great Fairy!" without shrieking from the intense pain.  

The Great Fairy answered "Lower the sword slowly into the water, letting it not touch dead stone."  Link sank to his knees, almost all the strength having left his body.  He lowered the sword into the water, keeping it off the bottom of the pool with the last ounces of his strength.  The water boiled, steamed, then was calm.  The Great Fairy waved her hand, and Link was healed.  

She said "Link, sheath your sword.  The spell has worked."  He sheathed his sword.  The Great Fairy continued.  "Link, remove your shield.  Goron Smith, Spirit Noble, Hero of Time, each of you hold an edge of the shield.  Raise the shield high above the water, facing down."  The three did as they were told.  

"Biggorn, do you recognize the work of this shield?" asked the Great Fairy.  

The smith felt the shield quickly, then answered "Yes, Great Fairy!  It is mine," answered Biggoron.  

"Spirit Warrior, do recognize this shield from when you lived?" the Great Fairy asked.  

"Yes," answered the ghost, "it was mine."  

The Great Fairy asked Link "Hero of Time, is this your shield?"  

Link answered "Yes, Great Fairy.  It is my shield."  

The Fairy continued.  "The shield must be hardened one time, by the three of you, just as the sword was.  This is the only time it can be done."  With no further warning, the shield became as hot as the sword had been.  The Great Fairy spoke.  "Do the three of you pledge this shield to serve all this realm, protect her from all who threaten her, and serve the realm in truth, justice, and righteousness for as long as any of you shall exist in this realm in any form?"  

They all answered, "We do."  

The Great Fairy told them "Lower the shield into the water, forcing it below the surface, letting it not touch dead stone."  They did as they were told, Link and Biggoron suffering horribly.  After the water stopped steaming, the Great Fairy waved her arms, healing both Link and Biggoron completely.

She continued "Link, look closely at your shield.  The Ducal Coronet has been restored, and set with diamonds.  This will not be visible in these times to those who must _not_ know you are the Duke.  It _will be visible to those who __must know you are the Duke.  After your second battle with Ganondorf, the crest will be visible to all, as a warning to leave the field with their lives.  This shield will not protect you against _pure_ magic attacks, attacks made with the type of fire that burns within the Sun, or attacks that pass around the shield.  __Nothing else will penetrate it, and __Nothing can crush you beneath it!  Not arrow, nor crossbolt, nor boulders from a siege engine.  Not even attacks with explosives, or items propelled by explosives.  You will not have the agility yet to block the attack of a moblin or an iron knuckle, but the shield will reduce the injury you receive from a moblin's attack somewhat.  Go in peace, brave warrior!  Come back when you are feeling weary, and I will heal you."  The Great Fairy shrieked her joyful shriek, and disappeared into the water.  _

Arliss spoke.  "Link, I have stayed past my time.  We will talk again."  He then disappeared.  Biggoron withdrew his arm from the cave, and Link walked out.

Biggoron told Link "I know you must free the Forest Temple first.  But please hurry and free the Fire Temple.  I am afraid for Darunia and most of my brothers.  Ganondorf has forgotten me and my brother for now.  A few others have escaped.  But most of my race are locked up in the Fire Temple, waiting to be sacrificed to Volvagia, the evil dragon of legend.  Our Great Chieftain is free in the Temple, searching for the Giant's Hammer, so he can kill Volvagia.  But not even the Wild Darunia can stand alone against Ganondorf!  You must hurry with the Forest Temple so you can help our Sworn Brother, before it's too late!  Let me brush this skulwaltullah out of the way."  As he said that, he reached over the side and killed two skullwaltullahs.  He continued "I will lower you gently down to the lower ledge.  You can jump down from there without injury.  Remember to dodge any falling boulders on the bad section of the path.  Take the shortcut through our city to your "Lost Woods".  That should get you to the temple quicker.  Biggoron lowered Link down to the lower ledge.  Link jumped from the ledge, and rolled as he hit the path below.  As soon as he hit the ground, the boulders started to crash down around him.  He got up, and ran at full speed, dodging boulders as he went.  He barely slowed down as he turned along the path.  He jumped over the hole to the hidden cow hole, landing on the ledge of the path below.  He turned right, jumped the gap in the path, and ran down the mountain where the path up to Goron City started.  He was forced to duck a large boulder, which rolled down the path toward him as he started up the Goron City path.  He continued to run into the mouth of Goron City itself.

He noted, but paid scant attention to the absence of Gorons.  He already knew the fate awaiting them, and all he had to do before he could save them.  He only hoped he could be in time.  He jumped and rolled from the top ledge to the ring ledge.  He noticed one small Goron rolling around, as Hot Rod Goron had done when Link was younger.  He thought "Navi, that child might be able to help us when we return, if he's still here."  As he thought this, he ran to the opening for the short cut to the Lost Woods.  He ran down the passageway into the forest clearing.


	11. Of Kith and Kin

Chapter 11 

He turned left when he entered the clearing.  He ran down the path to the shortcut to Zora's Domain.  He turned left, and ran down the path.  He went straight at the next clearing, then left again.  He came into the next clearing, to find Mido blocking the path.

And indeed, it was Mido.  But it was a Mido he did not know.  This was not the child of privilege, who resented an orphan the only thing he had of value.  This was not the petty bully, who seemed to revel in being mean and hurtful to Link when both were young, claiming that he was "toughening up the Great Warlord, ha ha."  Nor was this the Mido he had started to know right after he and Saria were married, the one who had lost all resentment when he finally saw that what he envied could be taken from its rightful owner, but _never be his.  This was not the kindly older brother, who had found himself passed up, and humbly asked the younger brother for help to do his duty, for the time had come that it was truly his.  This was the War Chieftain of the Kokiri, in a time when there was no shortage of war, or of suffering._

Link could see that Mido had aged at least twenty-one years in the last seven!  Link could _see the weight of all the Kokiri, even his own, pressing down on Mido's shoulders.  He could see the battles won, and the many battles lost.  He could see the death of each Kokiri who died at the hands of Ganondorf's evil.  He could see the consoling of each widow, each orphan, each grieving parent, yet __no one to console him.  He saw the seven years of blood, toil, sweat, and tears.  He saw the defiance, the mastery of fear, the _true courage_ of the man.  He even caught a small glance of fear of him.  No, not fear __of him, for this Mido feared __nothing!  It was fear _for_ him!  _

"What does this War Chieftain know?  Why does he not recognize me, after pledging himself as my brother?" Link asked.  

Navi answered, "I don't know.  I'm not sure I could say, if I _did_ know."  They approached Mido.

Mido challenged Link.  "Stop there, traveller!  You wear Kokirish dress.  Your mannerisms are Kokirish.  You try to read the mind like a Kokiri, and you even have a guardian fairy.  Yet you are clearly living in the body of a Hylean.  You are dressed for battle in a time where outsiders dressed for battle are ill omens indeed!  I am Mido the Diligent, War Chieftain of all the Kokiri!  If you are Kokiri, your sword is needed here, and was already missed by far too many of your countrymen!  If you are not Kokiri, your insult to us will cost you your life!  Answer for yourself, traveller!"  

Mido then drew his sword.  The Mido of old only carried a sword for ceremony, and then only when he had to.  He was a fair swordsman at best, and didn't like to carry one.  _This Mido's sword and shield were in good order, but showed obvious signs of heavy use, by someone who had become a master while carrying them.  Link took the Ocarina of Time, and played the song of his wedding.  As he played, Mido's demeanour changed dramatically.  _

Link knew now that Mido recognized him now with an _absolute certainty.  Yet Mido still hid this.  Mido was relieved to see him.  And he caught another glimpse of that fear, hidden away even more forcefully than before.  Link had _never_ seen Mido like this, and would never have thought it possible!_

Mido put away his sword and shield.  He stepped to the side, no longer blocking Link's path.  He spoke to Link with sincerity, but _forced himself not to look Link directly in the eye!  "Stop, friend!  You know… __him!  You are his friend; else you could never have played _that_ song!  You will __always travel in peace with the Kokiri through these woods!  When you see… __him again, tell him three things for me.  She waited for him as long as she could.  She loved him with all her heart, and always will.  And, tell him… that I'm… sorry… I was _ever_ mean to him!"  With that, Mido drew his sword, put it point down on the ground, and genuflected behind it!  The "old" Mido was naturally evasive.  _This_ Mido would rather die than avoid anything, yet was forcing himself to be evasive here.  The Mido he knew before was arrogant to a fault, and naturally disrespectful.  __This Mido refused to admit knowing him.  But he had just affirmed a __continuing allegiance to him, with more perfection than the King's best courtiers could ever muster!  Link did not question Mido about any of this.  Should he free the Forest Temple, he would have time enough to find all the answers he wanted.  Should he fail, not knowing why Mido acted as he did would be the least of his worries._

Link spoke to Mido.  "Arise, noble War Chieftain.  For I travel to the Forest Temple, to cleanse it of the evil that dwells within its walls!  If I'm successful, the day of deliverance for our people is at hand!  If I fail, than times may become even worse!  You must prepare our people, but for what, I do not know!  The beast is sure to lash out at the Kokiri in its death throes, and it may celebrate my death by seeking yours!"  

Mido stood up and replied, "Go with fortune!  Go quickly!  As you ask, it shall be done… my lord!"  Mido bowed his head.  Link pondered this no further, but did as Mido asked.  He ran down the path without looking back.

Mido watched as Link ran down the path.  He thought about the last seven years.  The fighting, the victories, and the defeats.  He thought about his people, who were hiding within the Lost Woods, now that the village was overrun.  He hoped that Link would win, Link _had_ to.  He also thought about what Link would find once he _did_ prevail over Ganondorf's shadow.  This time, he was unable to contain himself.  He cried inconsolably for a full five minutes for his brother.  A brother, who had suffered indescribable loss, yet didn't yet know, who _couldn't_ yet know, for the sake of the entire realm!  He then picked himself up.  He had to gather his warriors about him.  Whether Link prevailed or not, the coming attack was sure to be a bad one.

Link and Navi entered the field at the mouth of the Meadow Maze.  Link started to run to the mouth of the Maze, so intent was he on freeing the Temple.  Navi stopped him quickly.  "Link!  Stop!  These paths are much narrower than you remember them!  You don't know what you will find around the next corner!  Advance slowly, and look before you go around a corner."  Link answered, "Right, Navi.  If I had remembered what I _do_ know I'll find, I should have advanced more cautiously yet!  Can you sense moblins?  If you can, do you?"  

"I can sense moblins, and close!  I can't tell how many, or where, though.  Let me rise up a moment, and see what I can…" Navi rose up quietly, then settled back down.  "The first one is around the corner, approaching slowly.  If you move quickly, you should be able to send a bombchu his way without being speared."

Link quietly and quickly advanced to the opening of the maze path itself.  He got down low, and took a quick look to the left and right.  The moblin was to his right, two thirds of the way down the path.  And being big made one difference to him.  He had grown, but the path had not.  The paths were shorter and narrower.  But, there was enough room and time to send the bombchu on its way.  As he released the bombchu, the moblin saw him and charged!  He got lucky with the bombchu.  As the moblin started to charge him, the bombchu climbed one of its legs, and exploded, killing the moblin instantly!  The moblin had moved quickly enough, though, that the tip of the spear just missed Link's head!  

"Close call, Link!"  Navi said.  

Link answered "Very!  Are the other moblins rallying to attack?"  

Navi rose up, then down to make sure.  She then told Link "There's two good things about moblins.  First, they're _stupid!  Second, they are almost anti-social.  A moblin will watch you kill its neighbour, and not care at all, until you trespass on the territory _it_ claims!  It will also make the exact same mistake that allowed you to kill its neighbour.  I was able to get a better look.  There are four more moblins in the maze.  Two patrol the next two long paths.  The other two are patrolling the square path surrounding the hedge with the fairy fountain in the middle."_

Link advanced over where the moblin fell.  It had already disintegrated, leaving rupees in its place.  He collected the rupees, and continued on.  "Navi, can the moblins get into the shorter paths?"  Navi answered Link "Yes.  The one you killed patrolled the path you are about to turn on.  The next moblin patrols the second long path and the second short path.  You should be safe for a short time on the first short path."  Link went down the second short path, almost to where it joined the second long path.  Navi rose up, then settled down again.  She told Link "Get down and against the left wall now!"  He did, and none too soon.  The moblin was at the corner.  It sniffed the air, looked around, then turned and started walking slowly back down the long path.  Link waited a few seconds, then got up.  He took a bombchu, armed it, and sent it down the path.  The moblin never knew what hit it.  Link advanced down the second long path, to where it joined the second short path.  Navi rose up for a look.  "Ok, Link!  The third moblin has just turned to walk away from the second short path.  Be ready to launch the bombchu, and you should kill it easily!"  Link moved quickly down the second short path.  He took out a bombchu, armed it, and launched it down the third long path.  The moblin had stopped, realizing that something had intruded on its territory.  The bombchu climbed up its leg, and blew it into oblivion!  Navi rose up for another look.  She told Link "The last two moblins can't get into this part of the maze, even if they wanted to.

The first patrols the base of the square path, and the right side.  The other one patrols the top and left sides.  The first one has just turned around, and is walking towards the connecting path."  Link moved into the connecting path, got down low, and took a bombchu out of his pack.  He waited.  He first saw the spear pass.  He then saw more of the spear pass.  Finally, the moblin itself passed the path where he crouched.  It didn't even look his way.  He armed the bombchu and launched it down the path at the moblin.  The moblin was blown to pieces.  Navi rose up for a look.  She told Link.  The last moblin is by the stairs to the Meadow itself.  Move quickly, and you should get to the water safely."  Link moved quickly to the right, then up the right leg of the box.  He got quietly into the water.  He looked down the path of the square's top.  The moblin was about to turn to its left.  He got out of the water, and took out a bombchu, intending to wait for the moblin to come back.  But Link had moved too soon!  The moblin charged with a wild roar, spear lowered!  Link launched the bombchu, and rolled backwards into the water!  He dove to the bottom of the pool.  As he did, the moblin's spear grazed the sole of his left boot, and anchored itself firmly in the hedge just above water level!  Link came to the surface.  He looked; the moblin was dead.  He exclaimed, "That was close!  It threw its spear at me!"  Navi answered, "Next time be more patient!  But the moblin didn't _throw_ the spear at you.  Look!"  Link looked at the shaft of the spear that almost impaled him.  Both of the moblin's hands, and part of one arm were locked in a death grip on the shaft of the spear!  

Link asked Navi "Was the moblin going _that fast, or did the bomb do that?"  _

Navi replied, "That was the moblin!  They may be stupid, but never lose respect for their strength or tenacity!"

Link got out of the water.  He climbed up the ladder to the top of the maze.  He dropped down into the centre of the box, and into the fairy fountain.  He captured a healing fairy to make up for the one he freed to carry the blue fire.  He allowed the fairies to swarm around him for a moment.  One had found a wound he didn't realize he had, and healed him.  He left the fountain, and climbed back on top of the maze hedge.  

He was shocked for a moment to find that all five moblins had come back to life.  Then, he remembered that they were part of the curse.  He would have to kill them again after he had defeated Ganondorf's shadow, then they would be gone for good.  He looked toward the top of the stairway.  He could just see the top of the great moblin's head.  He waited until the moblin had completely turned to walk down the left leg of the square.  He jumped over the path, landing on the stairs, rolling to partially break the fall.  He continued up the stairs on all fours, just approaching the top.  

Navi rose up for a look.  "Link, the monster is just standing there right now.  It's shackled, so it will approach no closer.  But its war club is almost forty feet long!  And I'll bet the shock wave from that club would do some damage!"  

Link replied, "It's a good thing I bought those bombchus!  I'm down to fifteen, though.  I'll need to get three hits!"  With that, Link peeked up above the stairs.  The great moblin saw him, and started pounding the ground furiously with its war club.  The shock waves from the club broke up just a foot away from the top step!  Link didn't have much room to work.  If the bombchus couldn't make it through the shock waves, he had no idea how he would get past the great moblin.  

He launched the bombchu.  It traveled through the shock waves, almost got flattened by the moblin's war club, crawled up the moblin's leg and exploded.  The moblin let out a loud grunt, and settled to its knees for a moment.  It then got up and started pounding the ground again with its club.  Link launched a second bombchu, and a third in rapid succession.  Both bombchus ran through the shock waves, and were missed by the club. One at a time, they ran up the moblin's leg and exploded!  This time, the moblin fell face down, dead!  Link ran up the path, past the dead moblin, and into the Sacred Forest Meadow.

Link didn't know what to expect when he reached the meadow.  The last time he had been the afternoon of his first coupling with Saria.  That seemed like only yesterday, not seven years ago.  Up to this point, all his memories here had been happy ones.  For he had _never been there alone!  He saw a shadow by the tree stump where she had always liked to sit, where she was sitting when last he left her.  Was it…?  _

"Saria!" he cried as he ran towards the stump.  But it was only a shadow.  Link started to cry, feeling more alone her than he had ever felt in his whole lifetime.  But there _was the presence of a woman in that meadow.  A woman who cared for him, but he could not tell why.  He looked up to find Sheik standing in front of him._

"The flow of time is always cruel…  Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it…  A thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days.  To return here again, play the 'Minuet of Forest.'  Sheik took out not an ocarina, but a lyre.  Link wondered about this, but said nothing.  She played the 'Minuet of Forest' twice, and motioned for him to play it once, to show that he had learned it.  Link played the song once to Sheik's satisfaction.  Sheik played the song back to him, and he played it to her again.  She said, "Link… I'll see you again.  Sheik started to back away from him.

Link drew the Sword of Ages.  He said, "Woman, STOP!  You have followed me around in stealth, and show every intention of continuing to do so.  You tell me things that seem to be helpful.  But you sneak about, acting not at all like a friend.

"You will NOT tell me who you really are.  I already know that knowing your true identity will be dangerous for both of us.  But you will tell me the REAL reason you strive to help me.  If I am to trust you, you MUST trust me, and give me reason to trust you."  Link could see that Sheik was almost paralysed with fear.  Though she knew the ways of the Sheikah Warriors, she had not quite mastered fears of the unknown and unexpected.  She truly had not expected this!  Link continued.  "Fear me not, unless you are a minion of Ganondorf!  I drew my sword only to gain your attention!  Though my body is Hylean, I am a Kokiri, and either married or a widower.  Either way, the secret of your sex and your virtue are safe with me."

Sheik spoke.  "My father was killed by Ganondorf about the same time that the King was murdered.  I was an only child, so I was obliged to swear vengeance, even though that is the place of a son, not a daughter.  I took the clothes and tried to take the mannerisms of a boy, then a man to make my quest easier.  Shortly after my father died, Rauru the Sage took me in.  He told me that to claim vengeance for my father, I had to help you!"  

Link put away his sword.  He answered, "I can accept this.  You may call me friend, as I hope I may call you.  You are still frightened.  If you want, you may throw down your deku nut and vanish.  I would like to talk to you longer when next we meet, though."  

Link turned, to let Sheik leave.  But instead, she asked, "Who made your clothes, Link?"

Now Link was the one surprised by the unknown.  Although he was not afraid, Sheik still had his full attention.  She continued.  "Who bathed you these past seven years?  Who made your boots?  Who maintained your weapons and shields?  Who fed you, when you needed feeding?  Do you really think Rauru could be bothered with such trivial details?  _I_ did these things, Link!  At first, Rauru forced me to.  But after only a week, he could not have stopped me if he had tried!

For the first two weeks, until you had finally relaxed, you were holding the Sword of Time with two hands, as you held your sword just now.  The fury written on your face was so fierce that it could have melted _rock!_  Yet I also saw the fear behind that rage!  I saw a fear that would have killed a grown _giant!_  I saw this and thought on it for days.  Then, I finally saw what was hidden behind the fear.  I saw the love of a man for _someone.  It was a love so strong, that it could cause a boy to take a sword so heavy that he had trouble lifting it, and send him charging into battle as if carrying a reed!  So strong, that had it been necessary, it would have driven the man joyfully into the jaws of death itself!  I saw you believed it __was necessary, and you had been caught in mid charge when Rauru cast the spell that drew you into the Chamber of the Sages.  I didn't know __who that someone was.  But at first, I fantasized that it was me!  As the years went by, I hoped and I prayed to the goddesses that it _would_ be me!_

"I had to feed you twice a month, for even with the spell Rauru cast, you still needed some nourishment!  You didn't void your bowels or bladder, but you still needed to be bathed no less than once per week!  And you _grew!  The clothes of a Sheikah or Hylean irritated your skin, so I had to get cloth, yarn, thread and leather from the Kokiri.  I then had to learn to sew, knit, and last boots as the Kokiri do.  As the years passed, I began to hope that you would… that you would reject the Princess for a wife.  For it is written in the legends that you were promised to marry the Princess after defeating Ganondorf.  But it was I who cared for you, and who fell in love with you!  Now, I find I cannot have you!  For I could never wish you misfortune!  And, if your "life-mate" lives yet, I could _never_ take you from her!  If you are the man I know you to be, you could never be taken!"  Sheik started to cry._

Link held her to his chest, as a brother holds a sister.  He said, "Sheik, you have touched my heart!  For that, you will always be my friend!  I still pine for my life-mate, and hope to rescue her soon.  But she may already be dead.  Or she may be killed while I try to free her.  I don't know what the future holds.  But I know this.  A Kokiri can _never marry falsely or by arrangement!  I have only met the Princess once.  But, knowing the truth of what you've said, you have known at least part of me for years. I beg you not to raise your hopes falsely, but were my bond with Saria truly broken, I would _not_ seek comfort from the Princess!  I would seek it from you.  I must go into the Temple now.  If you are as good with the sword you carry as you are with a needle, I would be honoured if you would join me.  I'm sure Saria wouldn't mind, either."_

"I wish I could, Link.  But I am not allowed in any of the Temples.  The only help you may receive fighting these monsters is from the Sages themselves.  The only Sages I know are Rauru, and Princess Zelda, who is the Sage of Wisdom.  I am to teach you the magic songs of the ocarina, as you need them.  You will meet me at the warp platforms near each Temple, but only in this time.  I can tell you that you will travel back to the past at least twice in your quest.  When you do this, I will not be able to join or help you.  In _this_ time, I might be able to join you during some of your travels between the Temples.

"After you finish here, I will be at the Temple of Time.  You must come see me there.  For there is a song of movement I must teach you to reach the Temple of Time.  But I can only teach these songs to you when you are at those places.  I hope things go well here, Link!  I will see you at the Temple of Time."  Sheik threw down the deku nut, and vanished behind the flash.

Navi said "Link, keep your distance from that woman!  Your father hinted at it, I shall say it plainly.  Most Kokiri do not have room in their hearts for more than one life-mate.  You are no different.  But your heart is large enough that you could be tempted to _try, anyway!  This would be disaster!"  _

Link asked, "But Navi, shouldn't I at least maintain a friendship with Sheik?  And was I really in danger with her?"  

Navi answered, "You aren't in danger _yet._  But, in this short span of minutes, she _almost started to bond with you!  If Saria lives, see this woman only to learn what she must teach you.  Better yet, if Saria can, have _her_ learn the songs from Sheik and teach them to you.  Sheik will surely understand."  _

"Once we free Saria from whatever bondage holds her, she will not let me get that close, Navi!"  Link answered.  "How do we get in to this Temple?"  

Navi replied, "Look above the part of the porch that remains.  That tree limb is right above it, and you should be able to hit it with your hookshot."  Link took out his hookshot, and fired it at the tree limb.  The hookshot quickly pulled him up on top of the tree limb.  Link quickly jumped down to what remained of the outer entrance of the Temple.

Mido returned to the clearing where the Kokiri had gathered.  He looked out over the clearing.  There were just short of two hundred souls there.  He had lost over two thirds of his people in the last seven years, many of them in the last six months, when the village itself finally became so overrun with deku baba and mad scrubs that it couldn't be inhabited.  Before then, when the Stalfos came through, they were able to hide the women and children in their homes and shops, and leave the warriors free to fight.  But now, some warriors _had to guard the women and children.  And warriors have always been scarce in these times!  The day he returned from seeing Link disappear in the Temple of Time, he called all the able bodied men together to draw swords and prepare for war.  That day, he had two hundred ten men able to bear swords.  He wasn't sure he could find shields for all of them, and only had swords for one hundred eighty-five.  Today, he had usable swords for one hundred ninety.  But only forty-five men answered the call this morning.  And one of those men was only a child!_

But this child had snuck into his first battle last winter, and killed three stalfos, including the one that was about to kill Mido himself.  He had his mother's green hair and gently pointed ears.  He also had his mother's recklessness and some of her temper when he got angry.  But he had his father's face, eyes, and heart.  He was even more of a natural swordsman than his father was.  And he had his grandfather's size.  For though he was not quite seven years old, he was already almost the size of a Kokiri adult.  But unlike his father, _no one could call this child anything but Kokiri, size be damned!  For __this child was __born with a guardian fairy!  None of the other children of his age and younger had fairies.  The Great Deku Tree had given out fairies.  But the Tree had been dead seven years and two weeks.  This child also had a Kokiri heart that could someday rival his father's._

He was not a perfect child.  He was occasionally disrespectful.  He had to be reminded to wash his hands before coming to supper.  He had to be reminded to wash behind his ears.  But he would _share his fairy with the other children!  The other children wouldn't tease him, but not out of fear.  He refused to fight them.  At first, they even thought it fun to tease him for being big.  But when he accidentally told his teacher _why_ he let them tease him, why he would cry at their taunting, yet forgive them the next minute, no matter how cruel, it broke the hearts of the adults.  And, while he was still welcome to play with the kids as a kid, they treated him like an adult from then on.  "Miss Agnes, they are all my friends.  They are my brothers and sisters.  A lot of them have lost their fathers.  Some of them are orphans.  My father may be dead, but I feel his presence every day!  My mother has been around until these past months.  My uncle loves me as if I were his own son.  And my parents loved me so much I was born with a fairy!  These are scary times to be a kid, and they don't have parents to turn to.  If they can forget being scared while they tease me, then I __must be brave, and let them!"_

This warrior child walked up to Mido.  "Uncle Mido, have you seen a ghost?  I've never seen you show fear before, even when the stalfos was about to strike you down.  But you look how I feel at the height of battle!"  

Mido answered.  "Darunia, I saw your father!  Even now, he is starting to lift the curse from us.  But we cannot enter the Temple to help him.  He also told us to expect a big attack right before he wins.  Can you help protect the women and children today, warrior?"

"Uncle, I'll do what you tell me to.  But I feel better with the other warriors.  A warrior can get out of the way if his brother is clumsy with a sword.  But the children and women aren't as nimble, and get hurt easily.  I can pull a man's share with my sword.  But I am still clumsy at times, and there is so much I still need to learn!"  Darunia did not add, but both knew "My friends know me, and they know who my father is.  They know you would rather die a thousand deaths than see me killed before he returns.  They know that even though I saved your life in battle, you always send me back when things are _really_ bad!  They know when I _don't go to battle, more of their fathers fail to return, or return unable to fight again!  If this is the last battle, don't scare them!  We lost a young child to fright the last time I guarded them."  _

Mido replied "Fair enough, warrior!  You will learn at my side, and that of the mighty Helfdane twins, whose skill helped both your father and I become Master Warriors!"  But Mido's fear for Link and Saria's son was not limited the next battle alone.  He hesitated, then spoke again.

"Darunia, your father may lose his battle.  Though he is strong, and he now carries the Master Sword, _and the Sword of Ages, Ganondorf's evil, even in his shadow, is powerful!  And, your mother is still somewhere in the Temple!  If she should fall, it will wound your father to the point of death, even if he wins.  I'm sure he will win.  But you must be ready, in case he doesn't.  Also, remember that while your father fights Ganondorf, he does not live time like we do.  Though he will be grown to the full size of his Hylean body, in his mind he is younger than when you last saw him!  This will be the first time, in __his time, that he's __ever seen you!  He will not know you by the name he gave you.  At first, he might not even recognize you!  And you must be careful about what you say to him.  You have already lived times with your father that he will not know of yet, that he __must not know of yet, when you see him next!  But some of what you tell him will help him continue to fight, and to live!  __These things must be shared with him as generously as you know how!  Be careful, and trust your heart when you talk to him.  His journey is beyond our minds' experience to fathom.  At least with our hearts there is a small chance we may guess right."  _

"You are right again, Uncle" Darunia replied.  "I hope he returns soon, though!"  

Mido said, "So do I, nephew!  So do I."  Mido walked away from Darunia, and approached the Helfdanes, who had been watching.

"Our Liege-Lord has returned?" asked one.  

"He has, indeed!" answered Mido.  

"Does he know yet of his son?" asked the other.  

"Not from me, he doesn't.  Do you have healing fairies ready, brothers?" asked Mido.  

One said, "We have five clay pots, with two fairies each."  

The other said, "We had trouble with the moblins last night, else we would have had more."  

One said "The other warriors are all in agreement.  We have all known the favour of Darunia's blade, and that of his father.  We will all protect the Child Warrior with our very lives!"  

"And he will never know!  But we must be well led, and attack with full fury to win the battle" the Other finished.  

Mido concluded, "I will do this.  With your counsel, I can do no other!  Seeing we know nothing else of the coming battle, our council is ended.  I do not want to speak to our band until right before the battle.  Are your senses still sharp, friends?"  

One answered "As the edge of a virgin blade!"  

The Other continued "Either of us will know and give warning at least ten minutes before the stalfo hordes mass to attack.  Either my Brother or I will be awake from now until then.  We already have the rest of the band keeping one of eight alert, and the others resting as best they can."  

One finished, "When we heard the ocarina, we _knew, he was here, and that we would be attacked to distract him, or to gain the last drop of evil satisfaction for the murderous beast!"_

"Well done, my brothers!  I shall walk among our people.  After that, I will rest plainly.  You shall see me easily."  With that, Mido walked among his fellow Kokiri.  He clasped the hands of the warriors.  He clasped the hands of those who were crippled, too old, or too lacking in courage to carry a blade.  For among the Kokiri, cowardice was an illness, not dishonour.  

Those who never found courage for war were not killed, for courage enough to fight and win was enjoyed by almost all.  Those who did not have this courage were only expected to help where they could, and their help was never late in coming.  

Mido visited with the women and children.  He reassured wives, even where husbands couldn't.  He comforted widows, who had barely survived the normally fatal grief of bereavement.  He talked to some of the children, distracting their fears.  He noticed Darunia playing with the other children.  This was odd at first, because Darunia should have been on watch.  But then, he noticed Darunia's eyes.  They were not the eyes of a young boy then, not even the eyes of a boy in troubled times.  They were the cold, fiery twins of Link's eyes now.  And the game!  He had them play it out of love for them, not malice.  Though it helped the other children _be_ children, and didn't put them in any danger, it was also _cold_, almost to the point of being cruel.  

Darunia had the children watching into the woods, describing to him in their minds what they saw.  Mido had played this game as a kid, but in times of peace.  Darunia not only watched the woods through his own eyes, but through the eyes and hearts of the other children!  The kids couldn't tell, but Darunia was ready to pull all the kids back, sound the alarm, and lead the attack himself if need be.  

Darunia sensed Mido, and spoke into his mind "They don't know what they're really playing, and it distracts them from their fear.  If you wish, I'll have them play something else."  

Mido answered likewise "Please do, nephew!  I know you mean no harm, and your heart is pure.  You gave up most of your childhood in these times because of who you are.  I would like to have the other children keep theirs, until their appointed times.  I'll watch in your place."  Darunia called the children back.  After making sure all returned, they went to play another game, one whose innocence had not been polluted by the fog of war.

As Mido stood watch for the son of his Sworn Brother and Liege-Lord, he prayed to himself "Please, let this be the time of our deliverance!  I don't know how much more we can stand."


	12. The Battle of the Forest Temple

Chapter 12 

Link and Navi strode into the entrance of the Forest Temple.  It was a room about thirty foot square.  The roof, had it still been in place was over sixty feet in the air.  Two massive trees had pushed through the walls and up to the sky before dying.  Woody vines grew along the walls in many places, growing alongside and above the tree on Link's right.  A short stairway was directly in front of Link at the far end of the room, rising up three feet to a massive set of doors that opened into the Temple itself.  Link started to look about the room, when two wolfos seemed to appear out of nowhere, and attacked him!

Link drew the Sword of Ages without thinking, and attacked!  Navi fixed Link's aim on the first wolfos, distracting the second.  Link swung his blade hard upon its stony hide, and cut half way through it!  The wolfos could no longer move its back legs!  It ran madly towards Link, determined to get _one_ bite of Link, if it got nothing else.  Link swung his blade under the beast, and up.  He split the front half of the wolfos, killing it!  He then spun around as the second one was in mid-air to jump on his back!  Link angled his blade upward as he spun, splitting the wolfos cleanly in two!  With the battle won, and no other beasts laying in ambush, Link sheathed his blade.

"That was over with quickly!  How much of that was _me,_ and how much was the sword?" Link asked Navi.  

The fairy answered, "Some of that was you.  You have increased greatly in strength, as you have in size.  But much of that was the Sword of Ages.  You cut through the hide on the back of a wolfos, which is tougher than stone!  No ordinary blade could have done that!

"On the top of the tree to the left of the entrance, there is a chest.  I think we ought to check it, to see what's inside it."  Link asked "What do you think may be inside it, Navi?"  She answered, "One thing you haven't seen yet in these dungeons is the 'key game.'  One of the ways evil wizards confounded those who would invade their keeps was by locking some of the doors.  The locks on these doors were magic, and could not be picked.  Within the dungeon, the wizard would hide magic keys.  Most of these keys were small, for opening the ordinary doors.  Each key could only be used one time, but would open any door except the last.  The key to the last door would also be hidden in the dungeon.  It would be called the 'master key' because it opened the 'master's' chamber, but no other.  It would be larger and more ornate, making it easy to tell which key it was.  The trick was that if the attacker did not travel the dungeon in the right path, or failed to find a key, he would _never_ attack the wizard directly, and be doomed to either die or leave the castle defeated!  Ganondorf has had seven extra years to play with these temples.  Being who he is, he's _sure_ to have done this!"

Link looked at the tree to the left.  The wall behind it was bare, and it was too smooth to climb.  He looked up.  Both trees had limbs that reached out towards each other, but the limbs were out of the range of his hookshot.  He looked at the tree to his right.  It too, was smooth.  But the vines behind it looked like they would support his weight easily, even being Hylean sized with battle gear. That tree was so close to the wall that he only needed to drop onto the top of its tall dead trunk.  He climbed up the vines to the top of the right tree, and dropped on top of it.  He saw a curse spider.  It was easily in range of the hookshot.  He shot it, and used the hookshot again to claim the golden token.

The chest was on top of the other tree, and out of reach from where he stood.  But if he walked to the end of the limb, he would be able to reach it.  He walked to the end of the limb.  It swayed a little under his weight, but held firm.  He aimed his hookshot at the chest, which was now easily in range.  He fired the hookshot at the chest to pull it to him.  But instead, he was pulled to it!  He managed to get his feet under him, and on the top of the tree trunk.  He kicked the front of the chest, springing it open.  Inside of the chest, he found a key about five inches long.  He put the key in his pocket, and wound the hookshot.  He turned around, and walked back toward the right tree.  He was able to walk to the end of the limb of the left tree.  It also held firm under his feet.  The gap between the limbs was too wide to step over.  He readied his hookshot in case he missed the far limb, or broke it.  He jumped the gap without difficulty, and walked back to the vines.  He turned around, and surveyed the room again from his vantage, to make sure that he had not missed anything.  Seeing nothing else, he climbed back down the vines.  He asked "Navi, where else besides chests will I find hidden keys?"  She replied, "If Ganondorf follows tradition, all the keys will _only be in chests.  I would still be observant.  You never know what you'll miss.  The clay pots shouldn't have any keys, but will usually have helpful items.  But watch them carefully for another reason.  Ganondorf may place traps in some of the pots, and some of the chests!  If you are not careful, these traps will hurt you.  Clay pots can be enchanted to smash themselves against your head!  Chests may contain blasts of fire, ice, or water!"  Link opened the door, and they entered the Temple itself._

They entered a fifteen-foot wide stone hallway, whose thirty-foot ceiling was strangely overgrown with vines.  Halfway down the seventy-foot long hallway, a giant skultullah hung from the ceiling, waiting to pounce on Link.  Navi said silently, "Try your hookshot on it.  It may kill the beast right away."  Link wasn't as sure.  But he tried the hookshot, and it killed the monster outright!  It flopped about on the floor for a moment, and was gone!  Link and Navi looked around, finding no other threats, or anything of interest.  They walked to the door on the far end of the hallway, opened it, and stepped through.

They walked into the huge central chamber of the Forest Temple.  The Main part of the room was octagonal shaped, and measured one hundred sixty five feet long and wide, with a four hundred foot tall octagonal domed ceiling.  There were balconies on all four cardinal sides of the room, including the balcony Link stood upon.  The west, south, and east balconies were connected by a raised section of floor, and the North Balcony had a raised section around it.  The balconies stood ten feet above the main floor, and the raised floor sections five feet.  The main floor, which connected to the Northwest and Northeast hallways measured eighty-five feet wide and one hundred ten feet long.

In the middle of the room was a square section, measuring forty feet to a side.  It was ringed by a three-foot high stone wall with openings on the middle of each side, and was ringed by a five-foot wide band of gold trimmed burgundy carpet.  In the middle of the square was ornately pillared square gazebo, measuring three foot wide and long, and eight feet tall.  On each corner of the short stone wall was a lighted stone torch sconce.  Each magic fire gave off a different colored glow.  Link and Navi surveyed the scene for only a moment when each coloured flame turned into a poe!  Each poe cackled malignly for a moment, then disappeared!  Link was stunned beyond words!  Navi said silently to Link, "I'd heard the legends, but doubted them myself until now!"

Link asked, "What do you mean, Navi?"  

The fairy answered "About the last caretakers of the Temple.  According to legend, the last four caretakers of the Forest Temple turned to evil.  To protect the Kokiri, as well as to punish the corrupt caretakers, The Great Deku Tree had the temple sealed, and the main stairway broken off from the temple.  He also had forbidden _any_ Kokiri from entering the Sacred Forest Meadow.  But this was long before the Great Kokiri Warriors walked the face of the earth!  Even the legends were forgotten by many.  Those who knew of them neither believed them, nor cared to enter the temple to prove them wrong.  The Great Deku Tree himself stopped enforcing the ban on entering the Sacred Forest Meadow when I was with my first host.  He must have thought it better that people forget, and just not go there.  Also, the mad deku scrubs encouraged all save stubborn lovers with ladders to stay out!"

Link and Navi explored the room further.  They found three clay pots each along the southwest and southeast walls of the room, but left them intact for the moment.  Link found a curse spider in the Northeast corner of the north alcove.  He killed it with his hookshot, and claimed the token with Navi's help.  The west door was locked, and the east door was unapproachable from the room.  The northeast door was blocked with a portcullis, with no obvious way of opening it.  But the northwest door was only blocked with a time block, and the north door was not locked at all!  Navi told Link silently "Let's try the north door first."  Link followed her advice, and they entered the room beyond.

They had entered a fifteen-foot wide hallway, patrolled by a large skull the size of Link's torso, with bat-like wings and a blue corona around it.  It charged at Link!  He raised his shield, and had Navi anchor it, like he was attacking a deku scrub or an octorok.  They charged the vile attacker and knocked it to the ground, extinguishing the corona!  Link drew the Sword of Ages, and dispatched the beast with one quick chop!  Navi said, "Good work, Link!  That was a 'blue bubble.'  The blue corona around it is its armour, armour which cannot be breached by sword, not even the Sword of Ages!  But your shield is enchanted now, too!  Between the magic of your shield, and the force of the blow you gave it, it stopped making its corona!  With the corona stripped, they're easily killed."

Navi went to the far end of the sixty-foot long hallway and listened for a moment.  She came back and reported, "There are stalfos in the room beyond, at least two!"  Hearing this, Link was frightened.  Navi said, "Steady yourself, Link!  I know you've heard the legends, but you're stronger than that!  _Ordinary Kokiri have killed these monsters in battle time and again!"  Link replied, "I didn't know that!"  Navi answered "There haven't been stalfos in the Kokiri Forest in many years.  But even after the Great Kokiri Warriors were no more, Kokiri have had to battle them.  Remember the stalchildren of Hyrule Field?"  Link nodded.  Navi continued, "You kill these the same way!  But bombs or Din's Fire won't kill them!  They'll __only die with cold steel!  And they attack with ferocity and tenacity!  You can either use your shield and the Master Sword, or use the Sword of Ages, and move quickly!"  Link pondered this for a moment, then walked to the far end of the hallway.  He opened the door, and the two adventurers went to challenge the monsters of legend._

They entered an octagonal room, measuring thirty feet to a side.  A portcullis slammed shut behind them, and they were immediately attacked by two stalfos!  Navi had Link concentrate on the one on his left, keeping careful not to be bracketed between the two fearsome monsters!  Each stalfos was over six and a half feet tall, and had it been a living person would have easily weighed a trim muscular twenty stone!  They both carried large round iron shields, and wore iron helmets.  They carried waved edge swords that were almost large enough to require two hands!  But each stalfos wielded its sword single-handed, and with great skill!  Link drew the Sword of Ages, using it as both sword and shield!  He fought the Stalfos viciously, but quickly!  He made swing after deadly swing, sometimes striking the monsters' shields, but more often striking the monsters themselves!  He quickly destroyed first one stalfos, then the other!  But the monsters themselves got in several good blows!  Link suffered sword blows that would have killed an ordinary Kokiri, but was only slightly injured!

During the battle with the second stalfos, one of the clay pots in the room was broken, releasing a healing fairy!  Link absorbed the healing life-force from the little healer as the portcullis retracted into the ceiling.  A small wooden chest appeared slowly in the middle of the room.  He walked to the chest and kicked it, springing it open.  Inside, he found another small key, which he placed in his inside pocket with the first one, giving him two keys!  He and Navi explored the room further.  The ceiling around the sides of the room was sixty feet high.  But in the middle, an octagonal section rose up to over two hundred feet!  There had only been the one clay pot in the room.  With the healing fairy from it absorbed, and the small key claimed, there was nothing else in the room worth noting.  They left the room through the only door, which they had entered from, to return to the main chamber.

On the return trip through the hallway, they had to deal with the blue bubble again!  This time, it yielded some deku nuts after it expired.  Link collected these, and returned to the main chamber of the temple.  As they stood on the north balcony, Link asked, "Which way should we go now?"  The battle-fairy answered, "Let's try the northwest doorway.  It's only blocked by a time block!  We don't want to use keys if we don't have to."  Link walked to the time block, and played the Song of Time.  The time block vanished, revealing an unlocked door beyond.  Link opened the door, and walked through.

Link was immediately faced with a giant deku baba!  This carnivorous flower was just as tall as a normal one would have been when he was the eleven year old adventurer he had been just two weeks ago, as _he_ had lived time!  He drew his hookshot, and fired!  The hookshot found its mark, but only stunned the foul plant!  He shot it again, getting the same results.  He sensed that if it was injured at all, the injury was negligible.  He drew the Sword of Ages, and killed it with one quick swing!  He was immediately attacked by an octorok!  He quickly sheathed his sword, and had Navi anchor his shield as he approached the water monster.  With Navi's help, it killed itself with its second shot!  This allowed Link and Navi to explore the room fully.

The "room" was actually a walled garden!  The walls of the room rose up about four hundred feet!  The garden was rectangular in proportion, but not in shape.  It measured one hundred thirty-five to the east and west, and one hundred thirty feet north to south at its largest points.  Its southwest corner was noticeably truncated.  There were also several places where the walls intruded into the garden.  There was one near the northwest corner, two in the west wall, one in the southwest corner, and one in the middle of the truncated south wall.

Had this temple garden not been filled with monsters, it was beautiful, even in ruin.  The grass was perfect, kept that way no doubt by magic.  No _ordinary weeds disturbed the turf carpet.  The octorok had inhabited a creek three yards deep and two wide, which looped from the north wall to the west.  In the southeast corner was a deep stone well.  It was at least forty feet deep, but Link could clearly see the bottom.  In an alcove high up on the west wall, a deku-baba stood silently.  Link turned his attention to the north._

Half way up the narrow east wall was a passageway.  The vine-covered wall would be easy to climb, once the three skullwalltulahs were killed.  Link killed the first two easily with his hookshot.  But the third was out of range!  Navi said into Link's mind, "We have to get up there!  Try a bombchu."  Link answered silently "No.  I think I can climb past it."  He climbed quickly, avoiding the gaze of the huge spider, which threatened to knock him off of the wall!  Having avoided the skullwalltulah, he climbed into the alcove.  There was a door at the end of the small alcove.  The two adventurers opened the door, and entered the next room.

Portcullises slammed shut blocking both doors to the hallway they'd entered, and a blue bubble charged in for the kill!  Link instinctively raised his shield.  The blue bubble knocked _itself_ defenseless against it!  Link drew the Sword of Ages and attacked!  The blue bubble bounced around on the floor panic-stricken, trying to avoid oblivion!  It only gained a five-second reprieve.  Link destroyed it on his third swing!  Link sheathed his sword as the portcullises retracted into the ceiling, and a large wooden chest materialized in the middle of the sixty-foot long hallway.  Link opened the chest, and found the map of the Forest Temple.

Link examined the room more closely.  It was thirty-five feet wide, and had a forty-five foot ceiling.  In the east end of the hallway, some vines were growing on the wall and across the ceiling in one corner.  This was strange because the room was dimly lighted by magic, not sunlight.  Over the east door of the hallway was a strange seal.  Navi said silently "That's the seal of the Forest Temple, Link.  When we free the sage, the token he gives us will probably have that seal.  Do you remember the seals on the platform in the Temple of Time?"  Link answered, "Yes.  That seal was there.  There were five others."  Navi continued, "Each of the six temples has a seal.  Those seals were the designs on the platform.

"Let's go through the far door."  Link walked to the door and opened it.  He and Navi stepped through, to find themselves on a balcony with a normal sized deku-baba, which had wanted to be alone!  Link drew his hookshot, and fired!  This 'ordinary' deku-baba instantly traveled to its final reward, leaving behind deku nuts for its Kokiri executioner.  The balcony overlooked the mirror to the garden they had just left, at least as far as general shape and size.  But it was laid out differently.  The stream was wider, widening into a pool where it met the north wall.  There was no gazebo, nor was there a bridge.  There _was an octorok, and a giant deku-baba, but those were not part of the garden's original design.  On the wall above Link's balcony, and above another balcony near his on the north wall, were two black and white wooden targets.  And in the alcove behind the balcony was a floor switch!_

"Link.  Those are hookshot targets above the balconies!" Navi exclaimed.  "They will allow you to get to the far balcony and back.  And we need to trigger the floor switch over there."  Link aimed at the hookshot target and fired.  He was rapidly drawn over to the other balcony.  The hook pulled out, dropping him gently on the north balcony.  Link stepped on the floor switch.  He heard a rushing, draining noise come from the opposite end of the garden.  He turned around and looked.  He saw an octagonal shaped well, which had been brim-full until he had stepped on the floor switch, judging by the dampness of its walls.  But it was empty, at least as far as he could tell from his vantagepoint.  Navi flew over to the well, examined it, and flew back.  She reported, "The well is drained!  There is a ladder leading to the bottom.  We need to examine it more closely, Link.  Link had noticed the vines growing just to the west of the balcony.  He killed a skullwalltulah that was lurking on the vines, and used them to climb closer to the ground.  He jumped the last thirty feet, rolling to break his fall.

He ran past the octorok and giant deku-baba with shield raised, and quickly arrived at the well.  It was octagonal, fifteen feet across, and surrounded by a two foot thick stone wall five feet tall.  Link climbed onto the wall, and looked to the bottom.  Seeing nothing laying in wait, he got onto the ladder, and climbed to the bottom.  He and Navi found themselves in a strange passageway.  It was ten feet high, and twenty feet wide.  Fifteen of those feet were the dry walkway on which they stood.  Along the north wall ran a five foot wide channel of water.  They walked the two hundred sixty feet length of the passageway, finding two badly needed recovery hearts along the way.  At the far end of the passageway vines grew up the wall leading up to whatever was above them.  There was also a small chest.  Link opened it, and claimed the small key inside.  He now had three keys in his pocket.  He climbed the vines back to the surface.

Link climbed out of the deep well in the west garden.  He looked around, but there was still nothing to explore that he could get to from there.  Navi said, "Let's go open the west door, and explore there."  Link jumped down from the wall of the well.  He quickly dispatched the octorok and giant deku-baba, both of which had grown back.  He claimed the deku stick the giant deku-baba left behind, and ran through the door leading back to the main chamber.

He quickly walked around to the west door and unlocked it with one of the small keys.  As he did, both lock and key disappeared!  Link was surprised.  Navi said, "That's how that type of magic lock works!  When you unlock it, it just goes away."  Link and Navi opened the door, to find themselves in a hallway identical to the one they entered when they first entered the Temple, complete with the giant skulltulah waiting in ambush!  Link shot the giant arachnid with his hookshot!  The beast fell to the floor, and vanished in a puff of smoke.  Link and Navi walked to the far end of the hallway, and entered the next room.

A blue bubble charged at them!  But Link had lost all fear of them!  Though he respected the harm they could cause him, he otherwise found them a nuisance.  With Navi's help, he knocked it out of the air with his shield, and killed it with the Sword of Ages.  The room he was in was eighty-five feet wide, and sixty-five feet long on the first floor.  It seemed to go up to the very top of the temple, and looked like it had some means to get to the upper levels.  According to his map, the room was rectangular on both the first and second floors.  He climbed the ladder opposite the door he entered from.  He found himself in a small rectangular alcove, with another ladder to his right.  He climbed that ladder, and found himself at one end of a fifty-foot long hallway with an arched opening to his left.  As he turned to walk down that passageway, he noticed that he could hear other blue bubbles lurking somewhere in the room.

He turned to his left less than a third of the way down, to walk beneath the arch and explore that passage.  It was sixty-five feet long, and had numerous openings on both sides.  It also had two golden triangles inlaid to the floor.  He walked to the first one and examined the area more closely.  The triangles actually were arrows!  To his left of the first triangle, which pointed to the far end of the passageway, was another triangle pointing at him, and behind that was a huge stone block.  He walked to the second triangle, at the far end of the passageway.  It pointed to Link's right, and a hole in the floor.  It looked as if the stone would fit partly in the hole, allowing Link to climb up on it, and reach the next higher level of the room.  Link turned to his left and walked forty feet.  He stood on a wide ledge overlooking the open area of the room.  He turned left, and walked again.  Twenty-five feet later, he found a passageway to his left, and the backside of the huge stone block!

He put his shoulder to the block and pushed!  It took some effort, but he pushed the stone block in the direction of the arrows, and just a little farther to allow him to get around it.  As he pushed the block, he noticed a small alcove to his right, with a wooden ladder hidden within.  He got around the block and pushed it back to where he should have stopped.  The ten-foot cube of stone just fit through the passageway!  Link pushed it until it ran up against the far wall and stopped.  Link ran around to the open side of the stone cube and pushed again.  This time, the stone traveled into its recess in the floor, and fell in place with a loud stony crunch!

Link walked back to the alcove to explore around the ladder more thoroughly.  Climbing the ladder brought him into a twenty-foot long passageway that connected with another in a "T" intersection.  He walked to the end of the passageway and looked around.  To his left, the passageway ran for ten feet and ended, overlooking a passageway below.  To his right, it ran for thirty-five feet, and exited onto a small platform overlooking the open area of the room.  To his right was an eye switch, high up on the wall.  Below the eye switch was a stone platform that looked tantalizingly close.  But there was nothing on the platform, and though he was able to hit the eye switch with the hookshot, it did nothing.  Navi said, "Maybe you need something stronger to hit the eye switches with, Link."  The Hero of Time turned around, and started to walk back.

He took only four steps, and was even with a small passageway he had almost missed!  Ten feet down the passageway was another huge stone block!  Navi said, "Maybe we should push that one, too."  Link decided to try just that!  He put his shoulder against the block and pushed.  The block moved thirty feet, and stopped, revealing one of the gold triangles pointing in the direction he pushed the block!  He looked around, but could find no way to get around the block and move it any further!  Hoping that he didn't mess up too badly, he walked back to the ladder, and climbed down.

He walked back to the first stone block, and climbed on top of it.  He turned to his right, and climbed on top of the ledge that was there.  He turned to his right, and the passageway he was in ran for forty feet, up to the back of the second stone block!  He started to worry that he had blocked himself in, and wouldn't be able to undo the damage!  Navi said, "Calm down, Link!  We're doing fine!  You need to push the block another twenty feet, and into a pocket in the floor,  Then, you'll be able to climb up on it, and we'll be able to explore the next room!"  He walked to the block, put his shoulder against it, and pushed.  As the block started to move, another gold triangle appeared on the floor, pointing the direction Link was pushing the block now!  With his confidence restored, Link pushed with renewed vigour!  He moved the block to the end of the passageway, and it crunched into its pocket.  He climbed up onto it, and climbed up onto the ledge in front of him.

He stood alongside a stone hallway.  Fifteen feet to his left was a ledge overlooking the open area of the room.  He turned to his right, and walked thirty feet to the far end of the hallway.  He turned to his right and found a twelve-foot square alcove, with a wooden ladder against its far wall.  He climbed the ladder and turned to his right.

He found out where the other blue bubble noises were coming from.  The wide, short hallway he had climbed into turned to the right, and ran for another fifteen feet.  _Two_ blue bubbles haunted the room it opened up into!  Link drew the Master Sword, so he would be able to use sword and shield at the same time with the monsters!  He had Navi steady his shield, and attacked the one to his right!  He charged the monster, and it ran away, trying to fly just out of reach!  While he was chasing it, he was able to knock the corona off of the _other one!  It hopped about the floor, trying vainly to flap its wings and get back into the air!  Link finally caught the first blue bubble!  It took two good blows from the Master Sword, but the beast vanished into oblivion!  Link turned his attention to the second monster.  The beast had just managed to restore its corona!  It charged madly at Link, who charged with equal fury with shield raised!  Link knocked its corona out again, and dealt it two furious deathblows!  Having sent the foul skull to oblivion, Link was able to examine the room itself._

The main part of the room was seventy-five feet wide, and sixty feet long.  Link had entered through a forty-five foot wide alcove that was twenty feet deep. At the far end of the room, the floor sank down almost three feet, forming a pit the same size as the alcove.  Above the magic-locked door was another eye switch.  Link tried his hookshot again, with no luck.  He asked silently, "Navi, should we open the door now, or explore somewhere else?"  She answered likewise, "Open the door."  Link unlocked the door, opened it, and stepped through.

The hallway they happened into was twisted!  It ran for one hundred twenty twisted feet, but was not haunted by anything.  The room beyond was another story!  "Link!" she shouted into his mind.  "The next room is the lair of a wallmaster!  It's a huge severed hand that will grab you, try to crush you, and throw you out of the Temple!"  

Link asked, "How do I kill it?"  

She answered, "They can be killed, but I don't want you fighting it yet!  If you jump to the platform in front of you, turn to your right, and go through the door _quickly, you won't have to deal with it, __yet!"  Link did as Navi told him.  He ran the rest of the length of the twisted hallway, jumped to the platform, and jumped again to his right.  He quickly used the last magic key to open the door, and the two adventurers briskly walked into the room beyond, making sure to shut the door behind them!_

They now stood on a large top landing for a staircase.  It was sixty-five feet long and twenty-five feet wide with a twenty foot ceiling.  On the far end of the room, behind the stairway on the left side of the hall, a portrait hung on the wall.  But it was the portrait of _nothing!_  Just a black framed canvas!  But then, for a moment, one of the poes from the main room of the Temple appeared!  The apparition quickly disappeared, but Link and Navi both _knew that the paintings in this Temple were not to be trusted!  Link and Navi quickly but cautiously walked down the stairs.  They found themselves on a twenty foot long landing, with another haunted portrait!  They turned left, and walked down the next flight of stairs._

They were now in an almost square room, thirty-five feet wide and forty feet long with a sixteen-foot ceiling.  At the far end of the room, facing the stairway, was an unlocked door.  Next to that was a torch sconce.  Navi said silently, "This is the same type of torch sconce we saw in the main room, isn't it?"  Link answered in their minds, "Yes.  Does that mean we fight one of the four poes here?"  The fairy answered, "I think so."  Link opened the door, and the two explorers stepped into the room beyond.

They emerged into an octagonal shaped room, thirty feet to a side.  The octagonal domed ceiling towered over them!  There was also a thirty-two foot wide octagonal hole in the floor, and a matching platform hovering high over their heads.  But the stalfos, which charged in for the attack was Link's biggest worry!  Link drew the Sword of Ages, and met the foe!  He swung his blade with deadly precision!  But the stalfos was also clever with a sword!  Link finally killed the stalfos, but was noticeably hurt!  The monster yielded a single recovery heart, which Link claimed just as the monster's two companions rode down on the platform!  Link faced the nearest stalfos!  He and it exchanged blows, swinging their swords in unspeakable fury!  Link at last struck the deathblow to the monster, and turned his attention to the third, which had been circling around behind him!  He hit it with a jump attack, but the monster blocked his blow with its shield!  It struck Link, injuring him severely!  Mustering all his strength, Link remained in the battle!  He swung again and again, hitting the stalfos, but not nearly often enough!  By the time he had sent it on its journey to oblivion, Link was near death himself!  Navi shouted, "Break the four clay pots!  Now!"  Link broke the clay pots, which were in the four side corners of the room as a large chest materialized in the middle of the room.  By claiming the recovery hearts in the clay pots, Link was back to half of his normal health.

Link walked to the centre of the room, and opened the large chest.  Inside of it, were a bow, and a quiver containing thirty arrows.  Navi said, "That's the Great Fairy Bow!"  

Link asked, "It's great to have something to shoot with.  But what is great about this bow besides that?"  

Navi answered, "Only Kokiri can use fairy weapons.  But in the hands of a Kokiri, they are more powerful than normal ones."  

Link asked, "Ok.  How do I use it?"  Link had never shot a bow before, nor had he even seen one!  

Navi said, "Get against a far wall."  Link did this.  She then said, "Grasp the bow in your right hand.  Good.  Now, take an arrow in your left hand."  Link drew an arrow out of the quiver.  Navi said, "Place the notch at the feathered end of the arrow against the string of the bow."  Link did this.  Navi looked through Link's eyes for a moment.  She said, "Hold your right arm straight, and draw the bowstring and arrow back with your left hand.  Place the top end of the blue painting by the bow handle over what you want to shoot, and release the bowstring and arrow to shoot.  Shoot the wooden chest."  Link shot the wooden chest, hitting it squarely in the lock hole!  Navi asked, "Were you aiming for the lock hole?"  

Link nodded his head.  Navi said, "Good.  You still learn quickly.  But next time, if you care to practice fighting without a shield, do it with a different guardian!"  

Link answered, "I wasn't as quick as I should have been.  I'll need to be quicker.  Papa said that I was to fight Ganondorf's shadow with the Sword of Ages!  Else, I wouldn't have spent all the time we did to get it!"  

Navi replied, "Fair enough.  But you have only two healing fairies with you!

"We need to fight Joelle's poe, who we passed coming down here.  She hides in the haunted portraits.  We may be able to kill her with the fairy bow when she appears on one!"  

Link asked, "That was the guardian's name in life?"  

Navi replied, "Yes.  The other three guardians were Beth, Amy, and Meg."  The two adventurers walked back out of the room, to challenge the first of the four corrupt guardians.

Link crossed the room, and walked silently up the first flight of stairs, noting over his right shoulder that the haunted portrait behind him was empty.  He looked at the haunted portrait on the small landing.  It too, was empty!  He reached the landing, and aimed his bow up the stairs to the third, occupied portrait!  He fired, but hit the ceiling above the painting!  Joelle laughed at him!  This wounded Link's pride, and made his next shot that much quicker, and that much more devastating!  He hit the poe's image directly between the eyes!  The picture vanished in a puff of fire!  Link looked down to the portrait above the lower flight of stairs.  Joelle was now laughing at him from there!  She choked for half a second on the arrow Link fired down her spectral-enamel throat, before that portrait too burst into flames!  Link drew another arrow and spun around to look directly at the portrait of a more wary Joelle!  He fired the arrow into the portrait from point-blank range, and the corrupt poe jumped out of the canvas as it too burned.  The poe passed Link wordlessly and floated down into its chamber.  Link followed it, with bow drawn!

Navi said, "I'll help you target her!  But you can only hurt her when she's fully materialized, like with any other poe!  Her spin attack will be worse than the ordinary poes you've faced to now!  But, if you run out of arrows, you can kill her with either the Master Sword or the Sword of Ages!  I recommend the Master Sword, because you need to use your shield to protect yourself from her blows!  Link aimed in on the poe!  She started to materialize, and Link fired!  But he had fired too soon.  The arrow passed through her harmlessly, and splintered on the stone wall behind her!  She vanished, except for her torch, and started to spin!  But her attack was not very aggressive.  Link was easily able to keep clear, and still maintain his aim.  

Joelle started to materialize again.  But this time, Link held his fire, waiting until she had fully materialized before letting a deadly arrow fly!  He struck her in the forehead, and the poe shrieked in pain!  She vanished again, and spun furiously!  Link kept clear by circling the room, waiting for his next shot.  Joelle appeared again, and received an arrow in the eye for her troubles!  She shrieked, vanished, and spun again!  Link circled the room, waiting patiently.  When she appeared again, she received an arrow between the eyes!  She vanished, and moved to the far side of the room.  Link closed just a little, to allow Navi to keep his aim true.  She appeared again, and caught an arrow in the back of her head!  She vanished and spun furiously!  She appeared again and started to float menacingly towards Link.  But an arrow to the mouth ended her attack for good!  She vanished with one last tortured shriek, and the torch sconce beside the door lighted with a burst of flame.  A small chest appeared in the northeast corner of the room.

Link opened the chest, and claimed the small key inside.  Navi said, "The torch is lit!  This means…"  

Link answered, "Right.  Where to now?"  The fairy answered, "Let's explore on the other side of the room where you claimed the fairy bow."  Link opened the door, and the two explorers walked back into the octagonal room.  The four clay pots had come back.  But their contents did not.  Fortunately for Link, neither did the stalfos!  Link and Navi crossed the room, and opened the eastern door, stepping into the room beyond.

Beth's lair was the mirror image of Joelle's, save three clay pots against the north wall of the lower room.  Link ascended the first flight of stairs, fairy bow at the ready.  The portrait on the centre landing was empty.  He looked over his shoulder, the one over the lower flight of stairs was also empty!  He aimed at the portrait over the top flight of stairs and fired!  Beth didn't know what hit her!  The portrait vanished in a puff of flames, and Beth chortled at Link from behind him!  He wheeled about and fired!  Beth was starting to move to the third portrait, but wasn't fast enough.  The painting vanished in a puff of flames, and she was trapped in the painting over the lower stairs!  Link shot the last portrait, and Beth slunk down to her lair for the fight.

Link walked down the stairs, bow at the ready.  Navi targeted the corrupt spectral guardian as Link entered the room.  Beth had just materialized.  Link shot her between the eyes, and she shrieked in pain!  She vanished and spun furiously!  Link circled the room, keeping sighted in on the malevolent spectre with Navi's help.  She materialized again, and earned an arrow down the throat!  She shrieked and vanished again.  She materialized again as she spun toward Link.  He shot the evil spirit in the forehead, causing her to vanish again!  She started to back away, and Link closed in slightly.  She materialized again, and Link shot her in the right eye!  She spun furiously and charged Link!  He circled away as she materialized again.  This time, Link shot her in the left eye!  The evil ghost was enraged!  She spun viciously toward Link, offering no quarter, and expecting none!  This was wise of Beth.  For when she materialized again, Link shot her in the mouth one last time, sending her back entirely to the realm of the dead!  As she vanished, the torch sconce was lighted, a bundle of arrows dropped from the spectral carcass, and a large wooden chest materialized to its left.  Link opened the chest, and claimed the compass.  Next, he broke the clay pots, claiming one desperately needed recovery heart, and two more bundles of arrows.  Link climbed to the top of the stairs to explore that part of the room more thoroughly.

At the east end of the top room was a magic-locked door.  Link started to walk to it to open it.  Navi stopped him, saying, "We need to save our keys.  We'll come back to this door later on.  Seeing nothing of interest there, Link and Navi retraced their steps.  The walked back down the stairway, crossed through the stalfos room, walked through Joelle's lair, up that set of stairs, and stood in the hallway above.  Navi said silently, "Don't forget what's on the other side of the door!  We must jump to the platform in front of us, then jump to our left _quickly!"  Link did as Navi told him, noticing the ladder running sideways to his left before he made the first jump, and the strange ornate chest on the wall.  He made the two jumps in order, and ran down the twisted hallway.  He opened the door, and re-entered the blue bubble room._

He raised his shield and drew the Master Sword to deal with the two new blue bubbles!  He charged the first one, which was on the opposite side of the room.  As he closed with it, it turned and floated away to his left!  He stood still for a moment to catch his breath, when the blue bubble charged _him_!  He raised his shield and charged back.  He knocked its corona off of it, and dealt it two swift deadly blows!  The other blue bubble had come to rescue the first!  This saved Link several minutes of having to chase it down.  He showed his gratitude to the bat-winged skull by killing it as efficiently as he had its brother.

Link now stood gratefully alone in the room, except for Navi.  She said, "Let's try shooting the eye switch with your fairy bow.  Maybe that will untwist the corridor."  Link shot the eye switch, and they heard a rumbling, twisting noise!  They opened the door, and the hallway was now straight!  They entered the straightened hallway.  Navi said silently, "Now, you will have to face the wallmaster.  First, you will need to draw it onto the floor with you.  Stand still, until your shadow starts to grow, and you hear a noise like the rushing of a strong wind through the trees.  Then, run and turn around!  The wallmaster will be behind you!  You can kill it with the Sword of Ages."  Link walked nervously down the hallway, ready but not quite eager to face this new foe.

The room was thirty feet wide by twenty feet long.  Link jumped down onto what was now the floor, and ran to the ornate chest.  He opened it, and found an ornate jeweled key that was almost ten inches long!  He quickly stuck it in the inside pocket of his tunic, and drew the Sword of Ages!  His shadow was growing!  He heard a sound like the wind rushing through the trees on a cold November night.  He ran forward, and heard the thump of the wallmaster landing behind him!  He wheeled about to face this new foe, and it withdrew itself back into the ceiling!  He stood his ground for a moment to lure the beast back down.  After a few moments, his shadow grew again, and he heard the rushing noise.  He ran forward, and spun around as he heard the beast land.  No sooner did he charge the monster than _again_ it withdrew into the ceiling!  He stood his ground again.  This time, he tried to look over his shoulder as he ran, and he fell down a hole in the floor!

He landed hard some fifty feet below, but managed not to break or sprain anything.  He was immediately set upon by two blue bubbles!  He vainly sliced at them with the Sword of Ages, but couldn't knock out their coronas.  He put away the Sword of Ages and quickly drew the Master Sword!  With the ability to use his shield, he knocked out both their coronas with one butt of the shield!  With two swings each hitting both monsters, they rapidly became part of the sad past history of the Temple!

Link explored the room they'd landed in.  It was sixty-five feet square, with a thirty-foot ceiling.  The hole he had fallen in through was in the center of the ceiling.  A short stairway was in the southeast corner, leading out of the south wall.  The door appeared to have been blocked by a portcullis at one time, but was free to open now.  According to the map, it appeared to open into the west garden.  He climbed up the stairs, opened the door, and stepped through it.

Link stood on a ledge overlooking the west garden.  His ledge was about one hundred feet up on the west wall.  Directly in front of him was the decorative angled stone beam, supported by its three pillars.  On top of the beam were two recovery hearts.  Link jumped over to the beam, and claimed the hearts.  As he faced the north wall of the garden, he heard a familiar scratching sound.  He looked up, and saw a curse spider just within range of his hookshot!  He aimed upward, and killed the beast.  With Navi's help to aim, he shot again and claimed the golden prize.  He turned around, walked back to the other end of the beam, and jumped back onto his ledge.

Halfway down the length of the ledge, which ran the length of the west wall, a giant deku-baba blocked his path.  He raised his shield, drew the Master Sword, and closed in on the vile plant.  He ran to within striking range of his sword, getting hit on the shield once.  He chopped three times at the monster, quickly killing it!  He claimed the three deku nuts the monster yielded, and explored the ledge in detail.

There were three deep alcoves on the ledge.  The first one was the one he entered from.  The middle one, behind the giant deku baba, shielded it and held nothing more.  The southernmost one had a door at its far end.  Navi said, "I feel something like a wallmaster, but different behind this door.  We should check it out, but be ready!  Link opened the door, and walked through it.

A portcullis slammed shut behind Link!  In the far corner of the forty feet long by fifty feet wide room sat a dismembered hand, looking like a wallmaster but not trying to evade or sneak up on Link!  Navi said, "Floormaster!  You need your shield!  Link drew the Master Sword, and approached the beast, sword at the ready.  As he did, the twelve-foot long disembodied hand changed from black to green!  Navi said, "Raise your shield!"  Link did, but he wasn't quick enough!  The monster knocked him on his back, injuring him further!  He stood up and quickly rejoined the fight!  The monster turned green again!  This time, Link had his shield ready, and the monster bounced harmlessly off of it!  He struck two quick blows with the Master Sword!  The monster turned green again, and charged!  It bounced harmlessly off of Link's shield, and he struck the deathblow!

The monster, instead of dying outright, split into _three little hands!  Each hand was about eighteen inches long.  Link didn't care to find out what the little hand could do!  He cast a ball of Din's Fire right where he stood!  The ball of righteous flames spread out from Link in all directions, and fried the little monsters!  Each one yielded a magic recovery jar, which Link quickly claimed.  A small wooden chest dropped down from the thirty-foot ceiling.  Link opened it, claiming the small key inside.  He and Navi looked quickly about the room, and found nothing else.  The left the room, and returned to the ledge._

The giant deku baba had grown back, but posed no threat to Link where it was.  Link turned to his right, and walked through the door at the south end of the ledge.  This brought him back to the room where he had to drag the blocks.  Navi said, "Use one of your healing fairies."  Link asked, "Why?"  The guardian fairy replied, "You're almost dead!  Haven't you noticed how weak you've felt?"  Link shook his head, then opened one of the fairy bottles.  The fairy healed him quickly, surprising him with how weak he had become!  Navi said, "We need to go capture two more healing fairies.  We'll be able to use the fairy bow to get around the great moblin safely.  Play the 'Minuet of Forest' to get us out of here."  Link did as he was told.  His head swirled, and in a second they were back in the Sacred Forest Meadow.

Link turned around, and walked toward the first of the two stone stairways leading to the meadow maze.  He stood at the top of the stairway, and aimed at the great moblin with his fairy bow.  He fired, striking the giant monster in the head!  It uttered a grunt, and started pounding the ground!  Link shot it twice more, and it died, yielding twenty rupees!  Link quickly ran down the stairs, and claimed the rupees just as they were about to vanish!  He walked slowly down the second flight of steps, and stopped.  Navi rose up and looked around.  She lowered back down and said, "The moblin is just starting to walk this way.  If you let it draw even with us, you will be able to shoot it from the side with your hookshot!"  Link stood and waited.  After a minute, the moblin started walking slowly past where Link stood.  Link raised his hookshot and fired!  The moblin let out a sharp cry, and fell over backwards, dead!  It disintegrated, and Link climbed the ladder in front of him, climbing on top of the maze.

He jumped down into the centre of the hedge, and down the hole into the fairy fountain.  He captured two fairies, and absorbed a third for good measure.  He turned around, and walked toward the fairy step.  He checked his bottles.  All three had fairies in them, and were in good order.  He played the 'Minuet of Forest,' and was standing back in front of the Forest Temple.

He drew his hookshot and fired it into the tree limb, pulling himself back up into the entrance of the temple.  He walked toward the door, and two wolfos attacked from nowhere!  Link quickly drew the Sword of Ages and sent the hell-hounds back to whence they came.  He claimed the bundle of arrows one left behind, then took the Ocarina of Time and called Saria.  She answered quickly.  "Beloved, I sense you are very close."  He answered, "I'm inside the entrance to the Temple.  Are you alright?"  Saria replied, "Yes.  But I'm trapped.  I hide from Ganondorf's shadow!  I'm afraid he may be able to hear us talk, even in our hearts!"  Link replied, "Then we'll let the connection break.  I'll see you soon enough, beloved!  There's so much I'd like to say to you."  "And there is so much I'd say to you, beloved!  Be careful."  Saria and Link let the connection break.  Link walked up the steps, opened the door, and walked through.  He shot the giant skulltulah, walked the length of the hallway, and entered the main chamber.

He and Navi noticed that two of the torch sconces in the centre of the room were now lighted.  They walked down and looked more closely at the torches.  The flames, unlike when they first entered the temple, did not vanish.  They continued to blaze in the sconces.  Navi said silently, "The torches must be lighted because two of the fallen guardians' poes are dead!"  Link agreed wordlessly.  The two explorers walked to the west door, opened it, and walked through.  Link was obliged to kill another giant skulltulah in the hallway as he walked through.  It yielded another bundle of arrows along with its life.  Link walked back into the room where he had dragged the blocks.

He killed the blue bubble with shield and the Sword of Ages.  He asked silently, "Navi, which way now?"  The battle fairy replied, "We need to open the door by where we fought Beth's poe."  Link agreed with Navi, and climbed the two ladders.  He climbed up both the blocks, and the second ladder, returning to the blue bubble room.  The two blue bubbles had grown back.  Link drew the Master Sword, and readied his shield.  With Navi's help, he quickly vanquished the two winged skulls.  He then prepared to try shooting the eye switch with his bow.  Navi silently stopped him.  "Link, the hallway may have twisted back by itself when we left the Temple!  We need to check first."  Link opened the door, and the two adventurers walked into the twisted hallway.

"You remember what lies at the end of this hallway?" Link's guardian asked.  "Sure" he replied, readying himself to move quickly as he walked down the twisted hallway.  He jumped quickly onto the platform in the wallmaster room, turned right, and jumped again.  He ran the two steps to the door, opened it, and walked into the stairway, making sure the door closed behind him!  He walked down the stairway and into what was Joelle's lair.  The torch still burned brightly, and the wooden chest still sat on the floor.

Link stepped into the octagonal room, hoping to find it empty, but ready for another fight if it was needed.  There were no stalfos waiting for him.  There were no monsters of any kind save his own fear.  He walked to his right, and broke one of the clay pots.  He felt the rush of a recovery heart healing a slight wound he suffered at the attentions of the two blue bubbles he had fought just five minutes ago.  Navi said, "Don't break the other three yet.  We may need them later."  Link asked silently, "Why do some things in these dungeons grow back, and others don't?"  The guardian fairy answered, "It depends upon what made them.  Some evil beasts are set free in a room, and sustain themselves.  Those monsters die for good once killed.  Other monsters are fueled by the master of the dungeon.  Once you kill it, most of these will perish when the master does, the rest will die for good when you kill them.  But while the master lives, these monsters will grow back again and again!  But some of the monsters we will fight were here before Ganondorf!  To destroy _those_ monsters for good, you have to break the spell that gives them life!  But restoring the Temples, even the Forest Temple, is a quest for another year!  We need to defeat Ganondorf first!"

Link opened the east door to the octagonal room and entered what was Beth's lair.  The torch still burned brightly.  The three clay pots and the empty chest sat undisturbed.  He climbed the two flights of stairs, and was at the top of the east staircase.  Link took a quick look at the map.  He asked Navi "Do you sense anything on the other side of the door?"  She floated close to the door, hovered a moment, and came back.  She said, "I can't sense anything through the door.  But wallmasters are tricky!  There could be one in there that I missed.  Seeing that things on the east side of the Temple tend to resemble things on the right, I wouldn't take any chances.  Link opened the door, ready to run quickly.

The room was similar to the one on the west end.  But there was no central platform!  Link tried to jump to his right, and didn't quite make the jump!  He landed hard without hurting himself, and drew his sword, looking for the wallmaster.  He didn't have to wait long!  He saw his shadow grow, and heard the rushing wind.  He ran at the last moment, and the wallmaster dropped behind him!  He turned to give the vile hand a taste of the Master Sword!  But enchanted sword-iron wasn't what the wallmaster wanted to dine on.  It vanished quickly back into the very high ceiling of the room.  Link climbed the ladder that was fastened on the one side of the platform he had jumped for, made the top, and ran into the hallway beyond!

The hallway he ran down was similar to the west hallway, but it was straight!  Two winged skulls also patrolled it!  They resembled blue bubbles, but their coronas were green.  He drew the Master Sword, and readied his shield!  As he carefully advanced, he asked Navi "What are these monsters?"  She answered, "Green bubbles.  They are like blue bubbles, but they can't keep their coronas up all the time.  They are also weaker, and more easily killed!  One blow with the Master Sword should finish each one nicely.  With a blue bubble, it would take two!"  As Link neared the first one, its corona vanished!  He wasted no time in dispatching the unlucky fiend!  The second green bubble was more stubborn.  Link had to butt it with his shield to dispel its corona!  But it died just as quickly after that.  Link and Navi reached the end of the hallway, and another locked door.

Link said in his mind, "Decision time again.  We're back down to one key.  Do we use it on this door, Navi?"  The fairy answered silently, "Yes.  Did you notice the walls in the room with the wallmaster we just left?"  Link answered, "Yes.  There was stuff on one wall that should have been on the floor."  She responded, "Right, Link!  Including a hole we need to jump down!  There has to be some kind of eye switch in the next room!  If there is, we need to trip it, and twist this hallway, so we can jump down that hole!"  Link unlocked the door, and they entered the room beyond.

The room was one hundred feet square, with a sixty-foot ceiling.  In the middle of the room stood four platforms, each one eight feet square and twenty feet tall.  The platforms were arranged in a square around a small octagonal platform, which was also twenty feet tall and had a wooden torch sconce on it.  Between each square platform was a sharp stone spike!  The spikes and square platforms spun slowly around the octagonal platform in an octagonal lake of fiery looking red stuff, each side of the octagonal lake measuring thirty-five feet.  There were two other platforms in the room, each one as tall as the others.  Link stood on one, which was ten feet wide and twenty feet long.  The other stood in the middle of the wall to Link's right, right below the eye switch!  It too was ten feet wide, and reached out twenty feet from the wall it stood against.  It, unlike his platform, had a wooden ladder fastened firmly to the side that faced toward Link.  The ladder would have had no importance at all, but the eye switch was covered with ice!

Navi said, "To trip the eye-switch, you'll have to melt the ice first!"  Link thought for a moment, then spoke silently.  "Why don't we try this?  I'll jump down and climb the ladder to the other platform.  Then, I'll cast a ball of Din's Fire.  If it melts the ice, then I can shoot the eye-switch from there!  Otherwise, I can jump to one of the moving platforms.  Then, I can shoot an arrow through the fire of the torch to set it on fire on its way to the eye switch."  Navi agreed, saying, "Hopefully the Din's Fire will work!  Shooting the arrow through the flame of the torch _and_ hitting the eye switch with it will be a tough shot, even with my help!"  

Link jumped down to his right, and ran to the ladder.  He climbed to the top of the platform, got up under the eye switch, and cast a ball of Din's Fire.  It not only melted the ice, but it tripped the switch!  Link and Navi heard the strange twisting noise of the hallway being twisted!  Link turned around.  One of the circling platforms was drawing even with the platform he was standing on.  He jumped onto it, and turned around to enjoy his anti-clockwise trip around the room.  He jumped off of the moving platform just as it drew even with the platform by the door.  He opened the door, and walked into the now twisted hallway.

They walked quickly down the hallway, dispatching the two green bubbles in passing.  They came to the east wallmaster room.  Link jumped down from the platform, and ran to his left.  He ran to a small square hole in the floor, and jumped through it, falling into the room below!

The room Link landed in was actually a large hallway.  It was forty feet wide and almost two hundred feet long.  The ceiling was forty feet high.  The floor was decorated with brown and white stone, alternating in a checkerboard pattern, each square being eight feet across.  A strange stone platform with several square and rectangular holes in it hung menacingly overhead.  Navi said, "That is a ceiling trap!  That platform will drop repeatedly from the ceiling if we get too close!  To get to the other side of the room, we need to get under one of the holes in the trap as it starts to drop!  Then, we need to run to the next hole along the way before the trap drops again!  Link looked again at his map.  He _still had to cross under that trap, though he hoped he had not remembered the map correctly.  He walked to the right side of the room, and under a notch in the trap just as it fell to the floor with a bone-jarring crash!_

He waited a moment, and the trap rose back to the ceiling.  He started to step to the next clear spot, just eight feet away, and a giant skulltulah dropped down from the ceiling!  Link quickly stepped back, drew his hookshot, and killed the inconvenient arachnid before it could retreat to safety.  He stood on his first safe block as the trap dropped again!  He waited, and the trap rose back up.  He walked to where he had killed the giant skulltulah, and waited.  The trap dropped again.  When the trap rose, Link ran to a floor switch three squares away, hoping that it wasn't also guarded with a giant skulltulah.  It was clear.  It also raised the portcullis blocking the door at the far end of the room!  "Don't use _all_ your good luck in this room, Link!" Navi cheerfully exclaimed in Link's mind.  He noticed that the next closest safe block, a white one, had a shadow darkening it!  Not a good stop.  But just two blocks beyond that stood a small wooden chest, which appeared to be unharmed by the dropping trap!  He looked up, and the area above the chest, and the block to its left was clear!  He waited for the trap to drop again.  It dropped, paused, and raised again.  As it rose, Link quickly sprinted to the chest!  As he did, _two giant skulltulahs dropped from the ceiling.  But Link neither stopped nor slowed down to join them in battle.  He was more concerned about the trap!  The trap dropped again just as Link made the safety of the chest!  While he waited for the trap to raise again, he opened the chest.  It contained a bundle of arrows, which he left.  His quiver held only thirty arrows, and was full.  The trap rose again.  As it did, Link noticed the square in front of the door was safe!  He ran to the door, opened it, and stepped through._

The room he found himself in was eighty feet long and one seventy-five feet wide, with a seventy-five foot ceiling.  To Link's right, was a raised platform with two clay pots on the end nearest him, an unlighted torch sconce on the far end, and a portcullis blocked door in the middle.  On the left wall hung a huge portrait of Amy the Poe!  Above him, five blocks hung from the ceiling.  On each face of four of the blocks that he could see, Link noticed that parts of the portrait were duplicated.  The fifth block was all black.  Navi said in Link's mind, "The legends said that Amy was the vainest of the guardians!  Using the picture-block puzzle proves it!"

Link asked silently, "What is the 'picture-block puzzle?'"  

His guardian fairy answered, "First you must destroy the large portrait on the wall.  Then, stand clear!  The five stone blocks on the ceiling will drop down to the floor!  You will have a short amount of time to push the four blocks with images together to duplicate the portrait that was on the wall!  If you don't move fast enough, the blocks will raise up, spin around, and drop again!  You will never fight Amy until you push the blocks together!  And we will never even see Ganondorf's shadow unless we kill all four poes!  For that cage we saw sink into the floor when we first entered the Temple is a magic platform!  We need to control that platform to enter the Shadow's lair."

Link drew his fairy-bow, and shot the portrait!  The portrait disappeared in a puff of flames, and the blocks dropped to the floor!  The first time, there was no way Link could have pushed the blocks together in time.  But he tried as best he could.  The blocks raised up, spun, and dropped to the floor again.  This time, Link was lucky.  The blocks dropped to almost form the portrait by themselves!  It took Link only a quarter-minute to push the blocks the rest of the way together!  He was rewarded for his effort with a flaming spirit-torch across the back!

He turned around and backed away from Amy as she disappeared.  Navi helped Link steady his aim on the evil spectre!  She appeared, and received an arrow in the forehead!  She shrieked, and vanished.  She appeared again, and Link shot her in the left eye!  She shrieked again, and spun furiously.  She didn't quite disappear altogether before she appeared again.

This time, Link shot her in the mouth!  She shrieked again, and vanished.  But she just couldn't stay invisible!  The fourth time she appeared, Link shot her in the right eye!  The fifth, he shot her in the nose.  It took Link less time to _kill Amy than it did to lure her out!  She died, leaving behind a bundle of arrows for Link's trouble.  The torch also lighted, and the portcullis retracted into the ceiling._

Link broke each of the clay pots.  One contained a badly needed recovery heart!  The other contained a bundle of five arrows.  Link took one, and placed it into his now full quiver.  The other four vanished!  Link and Navi left the room through the door that had been blocked.

The hallway Link and Navi entered was the duplicate of the one at the entrance, and the one leading to the west room where Link dragged the blocks, down to the giant skulltulah standing watch!  Link dispatched the inconvenient arachnid, and walked to the end of the hallway.  He opened the door, and stepped out into the main room of the Temple.

Meg the Poe was waiting for Link, hovering over the top of the magic platform in the centre of the room.  Link shot her from the east balcony, but the arrow went through her without her noticing!  He jumped down to the main level of the room, and asked silently "How do we kill her, Navi?"  

The fairy answered in Link's mind, "I don't know yet."  Link charged the poe with fairy-bow raised, not knowing what else to do!  When he entered the stone wall surrounding the magic platform, Meg split into _four poes!  Navi exclaimed silently, "I've got it!  Notice how the one to your left spun around as they split up?  _Shoot that one!_"  _

Link shot the poe that spun the extra time, and Meg shrieked in pain, as her 'shadows' merged back into her!  She vanished for a moment, and appeared with her three shadows again.  But once again, she spun around where her shadows didn't!  Link turned to his right, and shot Meg in the nose!  She shrieked, united, and vanished again.  The third time she materialized, Link didn't see _any of the poes spin!  He wheeled about and shot the one behind him in the mouth!  Meg shrieked in pain, united, and vanished again!  The four poes appeared again.  This time, the one directly in front of him spun!  He shot Meg in the right eye!  She shrieked, united, and vanished!  Link waited for just a moment, and Meg appeared again with her three shadows.  This time, the 'real' Meg was to Link's right.  He turned and fired an arrow into the foul spectre's mouth!  She shrieked her death-wail, and vanished for good, leaving a bundle of arrows and a fire on the fourth torch sconce!  As Link walked over and claimed the arrows, the magic platform raised up behind him.  It was now __his to control!_

He broke a couple of the clay pots on the west side of the room.  One contained a recovery heart, and another contained a magic potion jar.  He was now as ready as he ever would be to vanquish Ganondorf's shadow, and free Saria!  He walked to the magic platform and stepped onto it.  The five-foot square magic cage retracted into the floor of the room, and went down.  Down it went, for at least one hundred feet!  It stopped on the last room his map showed, the anteroom to the dungeon master's chamber, where Ganondorf's shadow waited even now.

The anteroom, as Link saw it, was octagonal in shape, each side measuring forty feet in length.  The ceiling was thirty-five feet high, made of a single slab of grey stone.  Save the hole for the magic platform, it was completely plain.  The walls were made of the same grey stone. The floor was made of a combination of the grey stone, white marble, and red and blue carpeting.  The centre of the room, where the magic platform sat, was covered in the red carpet.  It was an octagonal shaped rug ten feet to each side.  Runners of blue carpet joined the red one on the north and south.  The north runner led to the iron barred hallway leading to the beast's lair.  The carpet to the south led to an iron barred alcove with a floor switch.  Red runners led off of the octagonal carpet to the east and west.  On both sides, the rugs led underneath two grey stone blocks, each one fifteen feet long, five feet thick, and fifteen feet tall.  According to Link's map, there were alcoves to the northwest, southwest, and east that he didn't see!  Navi examined the blocks more closely, and the base of the walls themselves.  She told Link what she found.

"The walls are mounted on iron bearings!  You will need to push them around to get to the hidden alcoves.  Perhaps one of them will give us what we need to open the bars leading to Ganondorf's shadow!"  Link walked to the north side of the east block, and pushed. The walls rotated around the length of one side of the room!  This opened the southwest alcove!  In the alcove hung a giant skulltulah!  Link drew his hookshot, and quickly killed the beast.  He noticed a small wooden chest in the alcove.  He walked closer to it, and heard the familiar scratching sound, coming from high up to his right.  He killed the golden curse-spider, and claimed the golden token from its body.  He looked in the chest, finding a bundle of arrows.  He left them to pick up later, if there _was_ a later.  He left the alcove, grabbed the nearest stone block, and pushed clockwise again!

This time, the east alcove was opened.  It contained a floor switch, but this switch was also protected by iron bars!  He grabbed the nearest block and pushed clockwise again.  This time, the northwest alcove was opened.  The floor switch in _that_ alcove was clear!  Link quickly stood on it!  He heard the mechanical sound of iron bars withdrawing into the ceiling somewhere in the room!  But which bars did he open?  He walked out of the chamber, grabbed one of the stone blocks, and pushed clockwise once more.

The walls had been spun around one hundred eighty degrees.  The bars still blocked the way to Ganondorf's shadow, and the floor switch to the south.  Link pushed the walls clockwise again.  This time, the southwest alcove was opened again.  Link pushed the walls clockwise once more.  This time, the east alcove was opened.  But the iron bars protecting _its_ floor switch were gone!  Link almost ran into the chamber and stood on the switch.  He heard the sound of iron bars retracting again!  He left the alcove, grabbed a stone block, and pushed clockwise again.

This reopened the northwest alcove.  Link pushed on the block one more time.  Now, the walls had been spun one full circle.  The bars blocking the way to Ganondorf's shadow were still securely in place.  But the bars blocking the floor switch to the south were gone!  Link ran to the south alcove, and stood on the switch.  The bars blocking the way to Ganondorf's shadow retracted into the ceiling.  Now, he could join the fiend in battle!  He walked into the hallway leading to the chamber door.

The hallway was not too remarkable.  It was thirty feet wide, ninety feet long, and had a forty-foot ceiling.  The blue carpet from the platform room continued the entire length of the hall, right up to the ornately magic-locked door.  Link walked up to the door, and Navi spoke silently to him.  "Remember what your father's ghost said!  We need to knock the _real_ shadow from its steed three times, then stun the beast with its own balls of lightning to cut it down, _without_ getting fried ourselves!  You have three healing fairies with you.  If Ganondorf's shadow hits you hard enough to kill you otherwise, the fairies will bring you back to life.  But you only have _three!_  You also have me with you.  I'll help you where I can.  Let me!"  Link nodded silently.  His mouth was dry, and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his arteries!  His hand shook slightly as he took the ornate 'master's key' from his pocket and opened the lock!  He silently took a deep breath, exhaled, and opened the door!

The grey stone wall rose up thirty feet in front of him.  On the left at the far end of the passageway, two spears stuck out of the floor, suspending a rope at about the level of Link's breastbone.  To his right, a set of stairs rose up.  The wall was actually the side of a stone platform that stood in the middle of a cavernous room!  This room was octagonal shaped, like many in the Temple.  Each side measured fifty-five feet.

The domed ceiling was an impressive ninety feet above the room at its base, and rose an additional forty feet into the air beyond that.  The platform in the middle of the room left just ten feet of space between its edge and the wall, and rose twenty feet into the air.  Link turned to his right, and started to walk up the stairs.  The stairs curved around the platform in two shallow flights.  As he neared the top of the stairs, he was able to better see the huge paintings that hung on each wall.  Each one measured forty feet tall and twenty-five feet wide!  All of them showed the same scene, a painting of a gloomy country road illuminated by moonlight.  The pictures themselves provided part of the illumination for the room.

Link looked down at where the stairway joined with the platform at his feet.  He noticed three metal circles embedded in the stone of the platform floor.  Navi said silently, "Those are iron bars, Link.  They will rise up as if a portcullis from the floor, once you step over them.  Once they have risen, put your back against them!"  Link asked, "Why?  I'll do it, but what purpose does it serve?"  She answered, "There are _eight paintings in this room!  The two of us together can't watch them all!  If Ganondorf's shadow rides from the one behind us, we will not be able to turn around quickly enough to shoot him!  If we are up against the iron bars, he will be unable to strike us as he jumps down from the painting!"  Link nodded in agreement.  Removing all emotion from his face, he calmly but briskly stepped over the bars, wary that they could be rigged to raise up _as_ he crossed, rather than __after._

Nothing happened!  Link walked the length and width of the platform with no challenge at all!  Navi said silently, "Perhaps he waits until we try to leave."  An overpowering wave of panic hit Link!  He almost ran to the exit, dropping everything he carried!  But he held fast.  He was hit _again with the wave of fear!  But this time, he noticed that the fear didn't come from within his heart, but from somewhere else in the room!  Link asked silently, "Is he trying to attack us with fear?"  _

"Yes" the fairy answered.  "I'm surprised it didn't work, even with you, Link," she continued soothingly.  

The Hero of Time replied, "It almost did!

"If the beast waits for us to try leaving, Navi, let's get it over with!  Every second spent here is a moment wasted because I haven't spent it in Saria's arms!  After I've freed her, perhaps we can figure out together how to end this nightmare altogether!  Link walked to the bars, and tried to cross over them, fully expecting them to block his way, and the battle to be joined.

Link wasn't disappointed!  He walked toward the iron bars, and they raised up from the floor, the centre one being slightly taller than he was!  He heard the galloping of a horse, and turned around.  Ganondorf himself sat in the saddle of the tall black steed he had ridden so many years ago!  He carried a bright golden lance under his right arm!  The lance was twelve feet long, and had a 'fleur-de-lis' type head upon it.  It crackled with electrical energy!

The apparition laughed evilly!  Then, it reached up and pulled the face off of its head!  Beneath the already evil face of Ganondorf himself, the monster's face was even more evil, in fact, it wasn't even a Gerudo face at all, but one of pure malevolent evil!  The monster, horse and all levitated eight feet off of the platform, turned around, and galloped _into one of the paintings!_  "Get against the bars, now!" Navi shouted into Link's mind!  The oversized Kokiri obeyed.  The two adventurers heard the galloping of horse hooves returning.  Ganondorf's shadow was galloping at them from the right _and_ left!  Link compared the two instantly.  The one on the left looked brighter, so he aimed at it and fired!  He scored a direct hit on Ganondorf's shadow, and it galloped _backward back into the painting!  It turned around, and galloped back._

Link held his aim at that shadow, even though he heard galloping coming from behind the iron bars.  He fired, and shot the wrong shadow!  The real shadow leapt over him, and fired a lightning bolt in his direction!  But with Link up against the iron bars, the evil spectre was unable to get a clear shot, and Link was unharmed!  Link heard the galloping again, this time coming from his front, and his right!  He looked at both, but they _both looked the same!_  The one on the left started to leave the painting in a glowing purple swirl!  Navi steadied his aim, and he fired!  He scored another direct hit on the beast, and it galloped backward into the painting!

Link drew another arrow and waited.  This time, the galloping came from in front of _and behind him!  Link was frozen in indecision!  After a moment, he fired _straight up_ in confused frustration!  But as he fired, Ganondorf's shadow was riding overhead!  Link scored a direct hit, and the horse vanished!  Ganondorf's shadow now floated alone above the platform!_

Link drew the Sword of Ages, and swung furiously at the monster!  He caught a ball of lightning with his third swing and shot it into the spectre's evil face!  With swing after swing, blow after blow, he hit the evil shadow!  It rose up again, and started to shoot more lightning!  But Link had found the fury of the berserker!  He ran at the beast, and _nothing_ would stop him, not even Navi's almost panicked pleas to withdraw for a moment, _just a moment, to regroup!  He swung and swung again, first catching a ball of lightning, then catching what passed for the evil spectre's flesh!  In desperation, the monster fired __three balls of lightning at Link!  This didn't faze him at all!  He kept swinging, and sent the lightning balls instantly back to their maker!  Ganondorf's shadow swung his lance, and sent the balls of lightning back to Link!  Link fired the lightning back at Ganondorf with his next swing!  They fired the lightning back and forth quickly for almost a quarter-minute, which seemed an eternity for the Chieftain of the Battle-Fairies!  Finally, Ganondorf's shadow was slow on the swing and took three balls of lightning directly in the face!  It fell to the floor stunned, and Link split it from crown to boots, embedding the Sword of Ages in the stone of the floor!  But the beast was finally vanquished!  Link pulled the Sword of Ages from the floor and heard Ganondorf himself speak!_

"Hey kid, it looks like you've gained some slight skill" the Gerudo monster uttered.  It continued, "But when you fight the _real_ me, it won't be so easy!"  

Link answered, "I should hope not!  I've barely worked up a sweat fighting your 'mighty shadow!'  By the way, have you fathered any children lately?"  

Ganondorf replied angrily, "What business is that of yours?"  

The Hero of Time replied, "When last we met, I struck some low blows!  Regretfully, I was a little short at the time.  I was just concerned."  

"Your fake worry of my well-being flatters me, kid!" the Gerudo replied sarcastically.

Changing the subject, Ganondorf said, "What a worthless creation that ghost was!  I'll banish it to the void between dimensions!"  

Link answered, "Don't be so hard on the creature, Gerudo!  You _may_ join it!"  

As the remains of Ganondorf's shadow vanished into a glowing purple swirling cloud, the Monster of the Gerudo replied, "I ought to finish you myself, kid!  I like your style, but you irritate me!"  

The Hero of Time replied, "You wouldn't do that, Gerudo!  After all, you are 'Ganondorf, King of Evil!'  You wouldn't waste your time on a lowly teen-aged orphan!  That's why you have hired hands guarding the other temples—to allow yourself to attend to _important things, not the likes of me!"  _

The King of the Gerudo answered, "And don't you ever forget it, kid!  If you weren't so dedicated to opposing me, you could be my right hand!"  

Link answered merrily, "That would make you _my left hand!  You could never be subordinate to anyone, much less me!"  Ganondorf's presence vanished in a huff!_

Link claimed the heart of the Beast's shadow.  He felt a slight healing rush as he did this!  He had not been hit by Ganondorf's shadow.  But for an eighteen-year-old to swing repeatedly and viciously a blade the weight of the Sword of Ages was quite a strain, and Link had torn a ligament in his shoulder!  He took one last look at the chamber, and stepped into the magic portal, hoping to be reunited with his life-mate.

Link found himself back in the Chamber of the Sages, on the platform where he had stood for so many years.  But it was not Rauru there to greet him, but Saria!  He started to run to her, but was blocked by a wall of magic!  He cried out her name, as he did on that horrible day when he first drew the Master Sword!  

She answered "Link, please be brave, for both of us!  The time we had together was granted reluctantly by fate, but it was _not_ forever!  I am now awakened as the Sage of the Forest!  I was fated to this just as you were fated to be the Hero of Time!  I will live forever, but except for these times, you may never come here.  And except for the battles with Ganondorf, and your marriage to Princess Zelda, I may never leave!"  

Link started to weep.  "Beloved, how can fate be so cruel?"

Saria answered, "I do not know.  I am stabbed with the pain just as sharply as are you!  But fate could have been crueller yet.  I could have missed you that morning on the bridge!  I could have died at birth, along with my mother!  We could never have enjoyed the love we shared while we were able to share it!  Though my time as your life-mate was short, it was more powerful, beautiful, and _eternal_, than many of our people have in an entire lifetime!

"I have more yet to tell you.  I have already lived our life together, but you have _not!  Your quest has you live time differently than everyone else!  For the sake of the world, I can tell you but little!  By the same measure, you must not tell me anything then, which I do not know _then!_  Otherwise, live those moments with me with all your heart and soul!  Our quest will make those moments short, but we must, we will make them moments to last for eternity!  But in this time, we must drift apart!  For now, you are promised to Princess Zelda, and must bond with her as you have with me!"_

Link said "Beloved, I… I think I've pledged any love I have left to an orphan of the Sheikahs, one who nursed me in this very Chamber while the spell was cast upon me!  For I was…"

"Beloved, I know of the spell," Saria interrupted.  She then said, "And you mustn't tell anyone of her true identity, but your orphan is Zelda herself!  How did you guess she was even a woman?"  

Link answered, "Whether it was love or infatuation, it was written clearly on her face, and her way of acting towards me!  She was clearly either a woman, or an abomination of the Hyleans that lusted after its own sex!  When my father appeared to me, he told me that she was a woman.  But he didn't tell me who she was!  He said that my knowing her identity would be dangerous for both of us!  He also said that I should not encourage a relationship between us, though I should not stop one either.  What do you know of this?"

Saria told Link "Beloved, as he knew, your father was right.  But, knowing my fate, it will be more dangerous for you _not_ to know!  When you travel back to our time, you will have to leave any thoughts of love for the Princess in _this time, should you find any.  And, in _this_ time, you must always keep _our_ love in the past!  But, you must also not let the Princess know that _you_ know her identity!  For her heart is being made Kokirish, that she may be truly be a life-mate for you, not just a "wife" as is done among the Hyleans.  She __must court you, that she may open her heart to you, and eventually you to her.  But, because of cruel words I spoke to her in the past, she cannot force herself to court you as the Princess!  Nor, can you think of her _as_ a princess!  She will win your heart as a humble orphan.  And, your letting her do this, when she finds out, will finish your winning hers! _

"And you _must_ win her heart for my sake, if not for your own!  I can no longer be there for you!  And should you not take her for a life-mate, you will live the rest of these times alone!  I feel the pain of your loneliness in those later times even now!  You must allow her to ease your pain, that you would ease mine!"  

Link replied "That I will do for your sake, beloved, if that is all that can be done.  But lend me the strength of your heart, and of your friendship, for I could never leave you, save unto death.  Yet, I must leave!"  

"Beloved, you will always be my friend!  And, for our time, we will be life-mates forever!  Yet, I must remove most of my place from your heart, that Zelda may have _hers!_  For even _your_ heart, as large as it is, cannot hold two women at once in this lifetime!  It would burst, killing you, and us!  But, until Ganondorf is bound for good in these times, you can still play our song, and we shall still talk in our minds, one to the other!  Come closer, and kneel that we may see eye to eye again."  Link did as Saria asked.  She continued.

"Because fate bids me do this, I give you this medallion.  My power as the Sage of the Forest is focused in this medallion, and is combined with yours!"  Saria reached through the barrier, and placed the medallion in Link's hands.  He put the medallion in his pocket; along with the medallion Rauru gave him.  Saria continued.  "Fate also bids me give you your freedom.  Though I am loath to do this, and you are even more unwilling to take it, it must be done.  For fate has levelled the house I built for you.  Though you have prospered in it, it can no longer shield you.  It was broken not by you, but by fate!  It is in another place and time.  You will have a stronger house atop the hill, which will shelter you."  

Link answered "I will take my leave, for I can not follow your house, though I want to more than anything else in _any_ world!  But the time in your house has made me stronger.  The sadness of having our house taken from us will make me that much more grateful for times of joy, that I may live them _fully!_  And the joy of the times we had will lift my heart in times of sorrow!  My heart is bruised, but was not crushed.  For your heart protected it, and me from harm!  If it were possible, I would do the same for you.  For the memory of your heart will _always be in mine."_

"And yours in mine, Beloved!"  They found they could reach through the barrier.  They embraced, and gently kissed each other.  

Saria told Link "You must go now.  You will go back to your time, in the Great Deku Tree Meadow.  You will stay a few hours among our people again.  Then, you must return to the Temple of Time, then to _our_ time!  For I need you there!  Good bye, Beloved!"  Link started to say good-bye, as the light enveloped him.

Mido attacked yet another stalfos.  This attack had to have been the worst to then for the number of stalfos.  They seemed to keep regenerating almost as fast as they could be killed.  But they were weaker, and less skilled for all their numbers.  They had been fighting since early morning, which was later than they had expected.  But it was early afternoon, and they were all starting to tire.  They had fought well up to this point, no warrior being injured, but he could tell that was starting to change too.  He blocked the stalfo's attack with his shield, and drew back to finish it off, when it vanished!  He looked around.  _All_ the stalfos had vanished!

He sheathed his sword, and played "break-off" on his ocarina.  This proved to be unnecessary, though, for all the other warriors had also noticed the disappearance of the stalfos, and had not accidentally attacked each other.  Mido counted heads.  There were forty-three warriors standing.  They, plus Janus and Ethobard made forty-five.  "Are there any wounded here?"  One of the Helfdanes answered "None serious, now!  Ivano had lost an arm, and was near death, but a healing fairy had just finished healing him as you called, War Chieftain!"  

"Let us go to our families, to see that they are still safe!" Mido called.  The warriors moved to the clearing behind them, and to the hidden hole.

Mido called "All Clear!"  Their loved ones came out of the hole in twos and threes, as fast as the fairy-step would carry them out.  He counted as they came out.  None were missing.  Mido motioned for the Helfdanes to pick him up.  He then spoke to the multitude, who were overflowing the clearing.

"My brothers and sisters!  It appears that the day of our deliverance is at hand!"  The crowd cheered.  Mido bid them to be quiet, and continued.  "The attack of the stalfos lasted longer than any before it, but the stalfos were weak!  They vanished without warning not fifteen minutes ago!  This causes me to believe that all the monsters have been removed from the Forest!"  The crowd cheered again.  This time, Mido let them cheer for almost a minute, until they themselves were quiet, to hear what Mido had next to say.  "We will move slowly, with the warriors on the outside of our group, lest I be wrong.  The Helfdanes will bring up the rear, Darunia and I will lead.  We walk now to our homes, but there is more I must tell you!"  The Kokiri waited quietly for Mido to continue.

"We owe some of our survival to our own efforts.  Had we not fought here for ourselves, we would not have survived these last few months.  But we owe most of our continued existence to The Great War Chieftain.  Our good fortune tells me that he too, has won another victory!"  The Kokiri cheered wildly for a full five minutes!  Finally, Mido continued again. "I hope he will arrive soon to help us celebrate our good fortune, but I must warn you!  Though he is still truly a Kokiri, though his heart and spirit are as Kokirish and strong as they ever were, his Hylean body has grown huge!  Unless you look at his heart, you will never recognize him!  He will also not share in our good fortune right away.  In order to save our homeland for all time, he is still obliged to save the rest of the realm!  Our thoughts, our hopes, and our prayers must remain with him, until he may come home for good!  But now, let us advance with care upon our homes!"  The crowd cheered wildly as the Helfdanes set Mido down.  Mido moved to the path he chose, as the crowd parted for him.  

Darunia walked beside him and asked "What about Mama, Uncle?  Do you think Papa was able to rescue her?"  

"I don't know, Darunia.  Let us hope…"

The Kokiri followed Mido and Darunia to the village.  They found it run-down from many months of neglect and abandonment, but not a monster, not even a deku-baba, could be found!  The Kokiri returned to their homes, to start making them again liveable, and to reclaim their belongings.  The Helfdanes approached Mido.  One asked, "Have you further need of us, War Chieftain?"  

"Yes, brothers!  We must go the Great Deku Tree Meadow, and you as well, Darunia!  I have just remembered a dream, as well as legend.  We should be in the Meadow when the new Deku Tree sprout takes in his first sunshine."  The four Kokiri walked towards the Meadow.


	13. Homecoming

Chapter 13 

Link landed in the Great Deku Tree Meadow.  The fall almost knocked his breath out of him!  This wasn't too hard to do, because he had been awake since early two days before, when he finally received the Sword of Ages.  He had been in the Forest Temple for almost twenty-four hours!  And the last half-hour fighting Ganondorf's shadow was the worst!  Though he wasn't wounded, save the shoulder he himself had torn in his fury, the battle had been hard.  Indeed, it was much harder then he had admitted to Ganondorf!  Claiming the life-force container from Ganondorf's shadow healed him in full, but he was truly tired.  He was having trouble even thinking.  Navi too, was tired.  Guardian Fairies normally didn't require sleep often, gaining their rest from the rest of their host.  But Link's exhaustion had them _both weary.  They were about to just sleep right there, when Link was tossed into the air!  He landed face-first, breaking his fall with his hands and knees.  He looked in front of himself to see a newly sprouted sapling four feet in diameter and almost six feet tall!_

"Hello, Link!  I am the Great Deku Tree Sprout!"  Link looked in astonishment at the young sprout!  "Because you broke the curse on the Forest Temple, I can grow and flourish!  Thanks a lot!"  

Link replied, "Your welcome, new guardian!  I'm grateful I was able to do my duty!"  The Sprout continued.  "I may not mean much to you, but my people, the Kokiri, have waited seven years for me to sprout. I could not sprout while the curse of evil hung over the Forest!  It took you, the Hero of Time to lift that curse, which you did!  I thank you, and my people thank you!"

Link asked, "Great Deku Tree Sprout, why should you not mean much to me?  Am I not also a Kokiri?  Have I not kept our ways?  Have I not grown my heart as your father bid me to do?  Surely there is some reason you would renounce my adoption?"  

"You _know_ your parents were Hyleans?" asked the Sprout.  

"How could I _not_ know what I had been born, Guardian?  With my round ears, my slow limbs, with no fairy to balance my heart, my Hylean birth was rubbed into my face every day!  I had to earn, I had to _learn_ what came to the rest of the Forest People as a birthright!  Yet your father said of me, 'should his heart grow Kokirish, he will be one of us.'  I did this, and your father's word was good.  I had the Forest, my life-mate, and my brother and sister Kokiri, which was all I'd ever wanted.  He even gave me a fairy that my heart would be in balance with itself!  Yet now, my life-mate tells me that fate has torn us apart, and I'm not only forbidden the refuge of death to escape the pain, but must bond to a _Hylean!  Would you now take away the Forest, and my brethren?  How have I failed our people, to deserve this?"_

"You were only taken in as an orphan, and only because my father knew you were a child of destiny!" the Sprout said, becoming fearful as it spoke.  The legend had been clear to him earlier that morning, as he waited just below the surface.  He was to be rescued by the Child of Destiny, a Hylean who The Great Deku Tree had had raised by the Kokiri.  But that's not what stood heart-broken in front of him now.  He looked upon a Hylean _who became a Kokiri!_  The Sprout exclaimed in fear, "What you've become must not be!  My father did not adopt you forever!  You cannot be one of us! You must leave here."  

_"That's not what your father said, sapling!" _said two voices in unison, followed by the drawing of four swords!

"Hear us, O Great Near-Sighted Sapling!" proclaimed the Helfdanes.  "For we were there when your father accepted Link into our people.  He was indeed a child of destiny, and your father knew this, where we did not!  But _we_, and your father knew the father of the boy!  We _knew_ that we owed this boy not only refuge, but if he _could_ become one of us, a home for life, _as_ one of us!  The boy's father was the First Duke of Hyrule!  He was also named The Hylean Deku Tree, to be passed on to his sons forever!  The boy's father was murdered with Weldo, our old War Chieftain, and Sarchan the Wizard protecting the Kokiri from the monster who has cursed our homes these past seven years!  His mother was badly burned escaping the Beast, and died in _our_ very arms!  It was truly a miracle that Link survived at all!  _If ever the Kokiri owed anyone, we already owed this boy! _

"Your father, in his wisdom decided this.  'The boy shall be raised with love, as one of us.  No one may know _who his parents were until he is fully-grown in his body, for his safety.  Until then, he will be told that his parents were killed in the wars, as they were, but no more!  He will know that he was not __born a Kokiri.  He will not receive a guardian fairy yet, for his heart would not keep one alive!  But he will be raised with love!  We will teach him our ways!  If his heart grows Kokirish, he will receive a guardian fairy when he turns eleven, and is by our custom an adult!  Else, he will leave as a friend, free to visit, when he is fully-grown in the body.  If he gains his heart and fairy, he is truly Kokiri forever!  The visiting house we made for his father will suit him.  If he is truly a Kokiri, he will either not take a life-mate, or will be gentle to her in his great size.  The Hylean blood of his body will not hurt our people, for it will quickly dilute.  So I have said, so shalt thou do!'  And so we did._

"Link honoured our ways, and was raised as one of us.  Miraculously, he grew a heart and soul larger and deeper than the greatest warriors of old.  He lifted the fatal curse from your father on his day of adulthood, and was bonded to a _battle fairy!_  We have been Master Warriors all our lives!  We have grown our hearts greatly with valour!  We both took life-mates like unto us, and they grew our hearts even larger, as we grew theirs.  But between the two of us, and our life-mates together, we _all _couldn't sustain a battle fairy!  The daughter of the wizard claimed him, and they took each other honourably as life-mates.  Their son is already a great warrior, and a great boy!  The boy is just more than six, else he would already be proclaimed a man!

"Banishment from the Forest is a fate worse than death to us!  Only those who do the worst offences against our people can be banished!  What crime has Link committed?  Where has The Great Warlord deliberately hurt his people?  How has our mighty hero fallen?"

The Deku Sprout answered, "He is a Hylean!  I cannot banish what has never been more than a guest!  Even he will tell you that he must leave here to save Hyrule and marry the Princess of the Hyleans!"  

The Helfdanes looked at Link.  One asked "Great War Chieftain!  What say you to this?"  

Link answered, "My quest is not over.  Ganondorf's minions hold five other Temples scattered throughout the realm!  I must free these temples and awaken the five remaining Sages.  I must then defeat Ganondorf three times before the realm and our homeland are truly free!  

"I have had my life-mate stolen from me!  She was taken by fate to be the Sage of the Forest forever!  She also told me that I must marry the Princess of the Hyleans.  It will kill me to do this, unless she becomes a Kokiri.  For even I can't endure the pain, and the shame of a false marriage, and any marriage to a Hylean would be false!  

"But Saria told me I must do this, when I saw her for the last time in the realm where I can never stay, and she can never leave.  For her, I _must marry Zelda, even if I die from doing it!  _

"Even if Zelda becomes Kokirish as I did, we would live here part of the time, and visit the castle to attend to governing the rest of the time.  It would be a terrible burden to be away so much!  But it's only a continuation of the errand the Sprout's father sent me on with _his dying words."_

The Helfdanes looked at the Great Deku Tree Sprout again.  The other one said, "Sapling, this is not a crime.  This is a tragedy of epic proportions!  You would take this man; already carrying a horrible burden for the sake of our people, _on your father's bidding, and abuse him further?  How can you justify __this?"  _

The Sprout answered, "He is a hero to us, but he's not Kokiri!  He is a Hylean, as was his father!  The fairy is not even bonded, just loaned as it was to his father."  At this, Navi rumbled, as if to give off a burst of lightning!  The Sprout continued "I will take Navi back!  This will prove my point, and do Link no harm."

The Sprout took its largest branch, as if an arm, and lifted Navi up.  A free battle fairy could be touched by anyone, with its consent.  But any guardian fairy, even a battle fairy can only be touched by _deliberate consent of both fairy and host, or the Great Deku Tree, unless both host and fairy are at the point of death.  This protects both, for a guardian fairy may leave their host only after their host is already dead.  If a guardian fairy and her live host are separated, both will die!  As the Sprout pulled on Navi, a ripping noise was heard by the four warriors!  Almost at the same instant, Link screamed as an incredible pain seared his body!  His cap flew off as he was lifted into the air!  As if one man with two swords, Mido and Darunia severed the limb from the Sprout!  They rushed to where Link and Navi had fallen.  Both were still alive, but barely!  _

Darunia said, "Uncle, Papa carries three fairy bottles, but no fairies or potions?"  

Mido replied, "Those bottles held healing fairies moments ago!"

This had not gone unnoticed, for all the warriors had quietly entered the meadow after they saw Link fall, and the four enter.  Six warriors joined Mido.  They set Navi on Link's chest, being careful not to pull the rest of her tail from Link's head.  For she had been wounded more severely than Link, and could actually be touched!  They started to carry Link out of the Meadow.  More were preparing to chop down the Deku Sprout, on the Helfdanes' orders!  The Sprout was blubbering incoherently.  Link regained consciousness, and said weakly "Stop them!  The Sprout did not know what it was doing!  Perhaps it's better I die here anyway."  Link started to lose consciousness again.  

Darunia shouted "_No, Papa!_  You and Mama _promised me I would never be an orphan!  Mama can't keep her word now, you __must!"  Darunia hugged Link, and started to sob uncontrollably.  Just then, two other warriors brought two of the three remaining clay pots.  They set Link on the ground and sat him up.  They sat Navi on top of his head, hoping her tail would be drawn back the rest of the way into Link's heart.  They removed the lid from one of the clay pots, and set it over Navi and the top of Link's head.  They took the second clay pot, removed the lid, and stuck Link's left hand into it.  The healing fairies healed some of the injury.  Navi started shouting loudly "Get this pot off of me!"  The warriors removed the pot from Link's head.  One of the Helfdanes asked "Navi, how are you?"  _

"I'm drawn back in, but it took all four healing fairies to do it!  We need at least one more to finish healing Link, and fast!"  The third clay pot was brought up and put over Link's hand.  He absorbed both healing fairies, and came back around.

"Who claimed me for their father?" asked Link.  

"I did, Papa! I'm right here," answered Darunia.  

Link took the boy in his arms, and looked at him closely; his vision still not having cleared.  He said, "You have my eyes and face.  You have your mother's hair and ears.  I did tell you that my quest has me living time different than you, didn't I?"  

The boy answered, "Yes, Papa!  I'm Darunia!  You named me for your Goron Brother, who gave you that bracelet.  Please don't wish to die again!"  Darunia hugged Link again, and Link hugged him back.  

"Never again, my son" Link exclaimed gently.  He continued, "We'll both have to be that much braver, with your mama gone."  

Darunia answered, "I know, Papa!  But if you help me, I'll help you!"

As Link started to hold the boy tighter to his chest, he felt for the first time that Darunia was armed!  He winced in worry when he touched the handle of his son's blade.  Darunia said, "The times have not been kind to our people, Papa.  Yet, I'm still here, and so are you."

"My Lord, what of the Sprout!" Mido interrupted.  "You've spared its life, but it tried to murder you!  If it's cursed, it must be felled _now_!"  

Link answered, "Mido, it is not cursed, only stupid, and unwilling to open its eyes.  It will never make that mistake again!  But this mistake can not be forgiven completely!"  Link stood up, and drew the Sword of Ages.  He stood in front of the Sprout, and planted the Sword of Ages in the ground.  He drew the Master Sword, and armed his shield.  The Ducal Coronets on swords and shield blazed in the late afternoon sun!  The fire in Link's sapphire blue eyes was so fierce, that it almost cast light of its own!  He presented such a terrible sight to the Sprout, that it quaked in fear, shaking the ground!  All in the Meadow were silent as Link spoke!  

"Hear me, Deku Sprout!  You were the King of the Kokiri Forest, and protector of the Kokiri.  I am the Hylean Deku Tree, second only to you among the Kokiri… until now!  I am the Duke of Hyrule!  When the King of the Hyleans named my father thus, and none of the other Kings, not even Ganondorf objected, that made my father Duke of the _entire realm, not just the land of the Hyleans.  With the King of the Hyleans murdered, and his daughter in hiding, I am now Regent of the Hyleans and Sheikas until the Land of the Hyleans is made safe and the Princess returned.  _

"I proclaim this not as a boast, but as a warning.  _You have no appeal from my judgement, save fate!_  Hear your fate, and weep!  

"You tried to banish me from my home without cause!  When our people complained of the injustice, you tried to murder me in the most vicious way possible!  For that, you are unfit to rule, and I depose you!

"If I succeed in ridding this realm of the evil Beast, and die with you guiltless, you may rule again.  If I fall in battle, and you are guiltless, you may rule when Darunia's son decides you are fit!  You will still provide fairies to all Kokiri who are born, starting with the many you missed these past seven years!  For I saw the children without fairies out in the village, and having grown up without one feel their longing.  You may still read hearts, and help judge, should you bother to open your eyes and actually _look at the hearts of my people!  But you have no more power or authority in this forest!_

"You will cast spells to protect the forest from outsiders, but you will do it openly to me, and those I choose.  You will advise me, and those I choose, but we will decide, not you!  And know this!  _Your reprieve is not permanent!_  Should you attempt in _any_ way to ignore my words, you will be cut down, have your root dug up, and you will be burned!  In my absences, I name Mido the Diligent to take my place, aided by the Helfdanes.  Mido, please see to it that someone binds the wounds of the tree, that it not suffer physically for its afternoon's folly!"  

Mido answered "Yes, my lord!"  He left with Darunia at his side, to retrieve medicines for the Sprout.  Link put his shield on his back, and sheathed his swords.  "Sprout, my warriors will not be bound to the Forest, but will go wherever I send them.  Others who wish to travel, and accept the risks will need Mido's permission, or mine.  Children will be blocked from leaving, save with their parents, and the permission of Mido or myself."  

The Sprout answered, "Yes… my lord."  

Link continued "One word of advice.  I spared your life for the good of my brothers and sisters.  Treat them with love, and justice, and you will not feel my yoke upon you.  Hurt them with arrogance, blindness, and half-baked judgement based on half-remembered legend, and my justice will be unstoppable."  Link stood before the Sprout in quiet contemplation.  The other warriors left the meadow as one, to tell the rest of the Kokiri what had happened.

"Can you even read hearts, Sprout?" Link asked.  

"I don't know how, my lord," it answered.  

"Sprout, never judge a person's heart if you can not read it!  For Kokiri are truly people of heart, above all else!  We can't propose marriage unless our hearts are bound to each other more firmly than any Hylean married couple.  We need our guardian fairies to balance our hearts, where other races can't even sustain fairies, much less gain from them.  It is our heart, not our blood that makes us Forest People.  If you cannot read the heart of a Kokiri, then you can never hope to judge one fairly, or give just advice.  Try this…"  

Link showed the Sprout how to read the heart of a Kokiri.  It was truly awe-struck!  "My lord!  You are a young man, but your heart seems limitless!  But your life has been so hard, even for a Kokiri.  Your heart has been barely enough for what fate has handed you!"  

Link replied "All peoples, including the Kokiri are like the flakes of snow that sometimes fall here in winter.  There are so many, yet none are alike.  I sometimes wish I had an easier life.  But had I not lived the life I have, my heart might not have even become Kokiri, much less grown as it has.  I would never know what I had missed, and that truly would have been harsh!

"Mido approaches even now to bind your wound.  When he was younger, your father gave him wise counsel, that he would carry his burden for our people.  Though he is still young, he has seen much in his life, as have I.  He will gladly return your father's favour unto you if you but ask.  For even what little I have left you of your office will be a terrible burden.  Without help, you will surely fail.  Grow in peace; grow with fortune.  You may someday rule again."  Link left the tree, as Mido entered the Meadow with salve and pitch to bind the wound of the Sprout.

In passing, Link said "Brother War Chieftain!  The Sprout didn't even know _how_ to read one's heart, much less that it must be done!  But it learns quickly.  I have taught it while I read its heart.  It is still immature, but its heart is true.  I told it you would give it counsel.  We must help the Sprout grow in love, truth, and justice.  For the time will come when we are gone, leaving only the Sprout to care for our people.  For the sakes of our grandchildren yet unborn, we must not fail the Sprout, lest it fail them!"  

Mido answered, "As you wish, my lord and brother!  But I am not a perfect man.  I _have_ grown in spirit since you last remember seeing me, but I am still tempted to arrogance and pride.  I will need help if I am to succeed in this."  

Link replied, "You have already found the wisdom to know your limitations, and the courage to seek the help you need.  You will succeed, my brother.  I will help you when I can.  Others will help you when you need them.

"I should continue on my travels this very instant.  But I am tired to the point of exhaustion!  I will spend the night here with my son.  We will both be grateful for this time, even if most of that time is spent in dreams.  Where in the village do I call home?"  

"My lord, in your youth it was Saria's house alone.  In those precious moments the two of you had, it was where you raised your son.  The village was freed of monsters only hours before you returned.  It had been overrun for many months!  But the houses held up well under siege and abandonment.  The people set your house right first, without being asked.  It is ready for your return.  Darunia should be waiting for you there, but is waiting at the entrance to the Meadow.  He _is_ his mother's son, too.  And you were the _only_ one whom Saria did not rebel against at least once!  Good night, my brother, and my lord!"  Link walked out of the meadow, and into the village.

Link met with Darunia at the entrance to the meadow.  "Son, I'm glad to see you.  You should have listened to your uncle, and waited at the house."  

"I know, Papa!" the boy answered.  "But I was afraid that you would leave directly after you had finished speaking to the Deku Sprout!  I had hoped to see you again before you left.  I wanted to give you this."  Darunia handed Link a fairy bottle, with a fairy inside.  "I noticed you had room for one more bottle on your pack.  They are more common now among our people, and you will need it."  

Link answered, "I understand, Darunia!  Thanks for the bottle.  I will spend the night here.  I will have to leave in the morning to see your mother.   You go first."  Darunia jumped from one jumping pad to the other, and across the east branch creek.  Link followed.  

As they walked past the village shop, the shopkeeper called out "My lord!  We sold most of the fabric you consigned to us, but we still have some if you need it back!"  

Link answered "Thank you, brother shopkeeper!  I'll let you know!"  Darunia jumped from stone to stone across the west branch creek.  Link followed.  They went quickly, Darunia almost running, to their house.  Some of the ladies of the village met them at the door.

"My lord," one said.  "We have your house in order, almost as good as Saria would have done.  We drew you water for drinking, and to wash yourselves as needed.  The bathing water will be too hot for you until after you've eaten, so don't worry about it.  We haven't had time to get yeast to make proper bread.  But we were able to make some biscuits, roast some potatoes and carrots, and make a seed porridge.  If we made too much, don't feel obligated to eat it all!  We only had legends of your father to go on for how much to fix.  We've also set a bowl of nuts for you.  Your bed sheets and bathing cloths were packed well.  They only needed shaking.  We also brought some soap."

Link answered "Thank you, sisters!  Your kindness overwhelms me!"  As he said this, he nodded deeply, as was the custom of a Hylean nobleman.  He then bent down, and clasped the hand of the woman who spoke for them, as was custom for a Kokiri War Chieftain.  Darunia answered the woman "Thank you, ma'am and all of you!"  He bowed, as was the custom of a Kokiri boy to respected elders.  The ladies curtseyed in return, and left father and son alone.  Link, Darunia, and Navi went into the house. 

Link and Darunia washed their faces and hands, being careful not to scald themselves, as the washing water was very hot.  They then sat down at the table.  True to their word, there was a _lot_ of food set for them.  But it had been _so long since Darunia had last sat in a house, to eat off of a fired clay plate, that he didn't even complain that he didn't like carrots!  And Link didn't even _know_ when the last time was that _he_ had sat down to food that had been cooked at all, much less freshly cooked.  They had no trouble eating all the food, even though there __was too much.  They wiped their plates with the last of the biscuits, and then gathered the plates, bowls, and flatware to wash it._

Darunia said, "Papa, I ate so much, I'm afraid I might be sick.  It was great to sit down to a hot meal in a house again!"  

"I don't even know when I last sat down to cooked food!" Link agreed.  

"Papa, that was the last time you were here!" Darunia answered.  He quickly added "But I guess you haven't lived that yet."  Darunia started to get afraid.  

Link answered reassuringly, "Son, if I promised you not to leave you an orphan, I must have seen you before today.  You haven't said anything wrong yet.  But tell me of your times _after_ the last time I saw you.  Don't be exact with when, or how long, but tell me of you life.  What you like, who your friends are, stuff like that."  

Darunia was relieved.  But he had something to do.  "Dad, I need to void my bowels.  Would you walk me to the privy?"

Link answered "Sure.  I should do the same, so we don't have to use the chamber pot tonight."  

They walked out of their house, to the village privies.  They were set a short, but sanitary distance away from the village.  They had been emptied, their contents buried in a fallow field, right before the village was overrun.  After Saria and Link's house had been tended to, they were set right next.  There weren't too many people using them at this hour.  Darunia went first, going into an empty stall.  

"Papa, this is the first time in a long time I haven't had to loan my fairy out!  You and Mama loved me so much that I was born with a fairy.  But the other children, though their parents loved them as much, didn't have fairies.  They had to have their parents, or me help them tend to necessities at night, so they could see and not sit on something harmful.  Once the village was overrun, I would stay up late at night so the adults could get their sleep.  The warriors on watch were supposed to send their fairies with the children, and they did.  But the children were often too scared to bother the warriors, so I helped where I could.  Once _I_ became a warrior, I always pulled the night watch.  Even though I was a warrior, and the other children thought of me as an adult, they knew I was a kid, too, and weren't scared of me."

"What was your uncle doing, that a child could take up arms?" asked Link.  

Darunia replied "Papa, I _had_ to do it, to accept why you were gone so much, so I would not be angry with you for not being with me!  I found a sword that had been left behind in one of the fields.  When I first found it, I had to lift it with both hands!  I taught myself how to wield a two-handed sword without hurting myself.  When the Helfdanes saw me do this, they were mad!  Uncle Mido was madder still!  They _all_ spanked me, and took the sword away.  But I _couldn't stay away from it!  I _had_ to learn why you carried a sword, and were always gone!  Why you were always gone, when I could feel, even at that age, that you would much rather be with Mama and me!  The Helfdanes relented first, saying 'We instructed his father when he was but a boy!  We should teach him too, that when it is __his time to carry a sword, that he may carry it well!'  Uncle Mido gave in saying, 'You are your mother's son, too!  Those rare times I spoke words of wisdom to your father, he would listen!  Your mother only heard me when it was convenient.'  This hurt more than the spankings, but I _still_ had to know!  The Helfdanes first instructed me in the area that they had set up for you, long ago.  I grew in skill as I grew in size.  I learned the attacks of the sword, the use of the shield, and how I could have my fairy help me with my aim.  But still, I didn't understand._

"I started to understand after the village had been overrun.  The other children already looked up to me.  They looked up to me more, since I carried a sword openly then.  We had to carry our belongings with us, and I carried the sword for that reason alone, at first.  As time went by, the other warriors had me stand watch with them.  It was easier on everyone than having the children soil themselves from being too afraid to bother the warriors at night.  One day, last winter, there was a terrible battle!  The other children were afraid, one even died of fright!  I was afraid, too.  But I felt I had to do _something to lift their spirits.  So I boasted 'My friends, you are frightened for nothing!  The noises you here are only noises, and nothing more!  This battle is so light, that I will fight my first battle today!  You know Uncle Mido would never chance my being hurt!'  I snuck away from the warriors guarding us, and went to the sound of the fighting.  I hoped to wait away from the battle, then get Uncle Mido to go along with my tale to the other kids.  But I went too far, and suddenly I was in the battle itself!_

"The stalfos were many, and were starting to get the upper hand!  I found myself facing the back of one about to strike down a warrior!  I drew my sword and hit it as hard as I could!  I was lucky, and killed it with the first blow!  I found that Uncle Mido was the warrior that was about to die!  He was stunned, and said nothing then.  I turned around, and was facing another stalfos!  I raised my shield as it swung at me.  I fought it for what seemed like forever until I struck the final blow!  No more than I had finished with that one, I faced another!  But by then, the tide of battle had turned in our favor!  The last stalfos was trying to get away as I killed it!  We gathered the wounded to try to heal them, and gathered the dead to know who they were, and to burn them later.  Uncle Mido guided me to the line of dead warriors.  He said 'Nephew!  See this line of dead warriors?  You could have been there!  How would I explain that to your father?'

"I was wrong, but I replied 'Uncle!  You could be on that line.  Papa could be like that somewhere else!  How would you explain that to me?'  At first, I thought he would spank me right there!  But he wasn't angry, he was _hurt!_  I feared this more than his anger!  I hugged him and cried on his shoulder!  I begged him 'Please don't be hurt, Uncle!  I didn't mean it!  Spank me now if you must, but please don't cry because of me!'  He hugged me back, then stood me up!  As long as I live, I will _never_ forget what he said next.  '_Brother Warrior!  You meant no harm.  You spoke in the heat of battle!  And with more truth than you will ever know.'  This hurt me more than anything he could have done!  I saw him for the first time, not through the eyes of a child, but through the eyes of an adult!  I saw his fears, his worries, his doubts.  I saw the life of each Kokiri pressing down on his shoulders.  I saw the _death of each Kokiri_ press down even harder, and refuse to let up!  I saw the desperation, how he hoped he could preserve our people, until you could finally free them!  I saw how he worried for you, and for Mama.  I saw how he hoped you would _both_ come home when your quest was done, that you would have more children.  That those children would not be licked by the dogs of war!  It was then that I saw a small part of _what_ you endured!_

"We were far luckier than we could have been.  We lost only ten killed, and four more maimed because we couldn't get healing fairies to them fast enough to save their severed limbs.  The dead would be mourned by all, but they were either not married, or they had raised their children long ago.  We would not have any new widows dying of grief!  No children left orphaned!  We returned to the women and children, and _that's when I learned __why you carried a sword!  I saw the children, as safe as when I left them, but they hadn't been as scared!  When they went to sleep that night, they were able to dream dreams of peace, security, and freedom.  I knew, that though I would have nightmares for the rest of my life of these days, that once we won, the rest of the children would be able to sleep easy!  Thinking back on the battle itself, I saw even more.  I __didn't know that it was Uncle Mido I had saved until after I'd saved him!  But I saw that a brother warrior was in trouble, and it was up to me to save him.  _All your fellow warriors on the battlefield are brothers!  You carry the sword for your families at home, and use it to help your family in the field!__

"This lesson cost me most of my childhood.  But it brought me closer to you, Papa!  And to Mama, wherever she is now.  For that, it is my most prized belonging, next to you!"  Darunia left the stall, so Link could use it.  

As he entered the stall, Link asked, "Son, how did you become so wise at such a young age?"  

Darunia answered, "Papa, I only tried to follow the example you and Mama gave me.  I wish I could have done better somehow!"  

Link said, "Darunia, you did better than I could have hoped.  But remember, you are still only a boy, even if you carry a sword!  You must honour your elders, that you may grow in wisdom and become a good man!"  

"I try, Papa!  I try" the boy answered.

"Mister D!  Mister D!" a voice shouted.  Jonas, an orphan about a year younger than Darunia was trying to find the privies.  But he had become lost in the dark.  

Darunia said "Jonas!  You should have had a Mistress walk you down here!"  

Link said quietly, "Son, they're asleep now!  The chamber pots at the orphanage, if there are any left, are easily spilled.  He would have been made fun of, and had to clean it up if that happened."

Jonas said "Mister D!  They are asleep!  I was afraid I'd spill the chamber pot!"  

Darunia answered resignedly, "Okay, Jonas!  And your friends, too!  Wait 'til my fairy gets to you, then follow her in."  

Darunia sent his fairy out, and Jonas, Tomas, and Jennifer followed the fairy in.   

Jonas and Tomas said, "Thanks, Mister D!"  They were both anxious, so Darunia quickly had his fairy light first one stall, and then another, to get both boys seated to tend to necessities.  Jennifer, who was born right after the Old Deku Tree died, didn't _really_ need to go to the privy.  But she followed along to tend to what she _did_ need.  

"Hurry up, you two!  I still get scared without a light!" she exclaimed quietly.  

They giggled and Tomas answered, "Jennifer, if you needed to go that badly, you'd _learn_ to go in the dark!  We were all close to soiling our shorts until we found Mister D, and you were closest of all!"  

"I know, Tomas!" she answered.  "But _please_ hurry!"  

"Yes, lady Duchess, ma'am! Anything you say," the boy taunted back.  

Both Darunia and Jennifer were pleased.  They knew that Tomas and Jonas would now wait until they were sure Jennifer was about to soil herself before they came out.  They would be _alone or at least Jennifer thought so.  Darunia forgot the presence of his father for the moment._

"I missed you, Darie."  Jennifer said silently to Darunia.  

"I missed you too, Jenn!  I was with Papa…" he answered.

"And if you had shown up, I would have sent you home!  But I missed you," she said in reply.  

They hugged, and kissed quietly.  "When will the rest of us get fairies, Darie" Jennifer asked?  "I heard the Mistress talk to the shopkeeper.  They said the new Tree was born mad, and might never make fairies."  Darunia was frightened, not knowing what to say.

He asked in his mind to Link "Papa?  What do I tell her?"  

Link answered, "Introduce your friend to me, and I'll tell you both."  

Darunia said in his mind "Jenn.  We're _not_ alone.  This is my father, Link!  Papa, this is Jennifer, daughter of Rutan while he lived.  She is a special friend of mine."  

Link spoke to Jennifer's mind "I'm happy to meet you, Jennifer!  Don't be mad at Darunia, he just didn't want to scare you, or your other friends!  I don't know when the Sprout will make fairies, but it should be soon!  The tree was not born mad, only confused.  I had to say some harsh things to it, but it will make no difference to how quickly the Sprout is able to make fairies.  It is but an infant as far as Guardian Dekus go.  It will have to grow just a little before it can make fairies.  But it will grow, and all the Kokiri who were born without fairies will get them as soon as the Sprout can make them.

"I'm about to call you from a distance, Darunia.  Answer loudly like I'm walking up.  My having been here is _our little secret, ok kids?"  Darunia and Jenifer both answered "Yes, sir!" in their minds.  Link threw his voice and said "Son, did you fall in there?"  "No, Papa!  Some friends of mine needed a light, so I waited for them."  Link silently got up and stepped out of the stall.  "I see one friend, and one fairy, yours.  What friends?"  Tomas and Jonas said almost in unison "It's the Duke!"  "Ok" Link continued, "there's the other friends.  Relax kids, I was an orphan, too!  Don't be _scared_ of me, just respectful."  "Yes, my lord!" they both answered.  "Mister D, can you send you fairy in here?" asked Jonas.  I need to find my leaves.  Tomas said "And can you send her in here next, Mister D?  I'm done too!"  Darunia answered "Sure.  You first, Jonas."  As Darunia sent his fairy into Jonas' stall, Navi went into Tomas' stall, saying "If I can help save the world, I guess I can light a privy for a young child!"  "Wow!" Tomas shouted.  "A __battle fairy!"  Navi said "Young child!  Control yourself!"  She rose straight up out of the stall, as if a rocket!  "Navi!" Link admonished.  "He couldn't hurt you if he tried, but you've hurt him!"  Tomas started to cry.  Navi settled back into the stall.  She said, "Cry not, brave child!  I meant no harm.  Our Sprout is also young, and accidentally hurt me very badly today.  My nerves haven't settled yet.  Hold out your hands, if you'd like.  Tomas was awe-struck.  He held out his hands._

Navi stirred a breeze, drying Tomas' hands, then sat down on one.  "You may stroke me, like I was a small bird, if you like" she said.  Tomas gently stroked Navi.  She continued "Your father was Thomas.  He fought bravely and well.  He loved you very much."  Thomas had fought bravely, but was one of the first warriors lost.  Tomas said, "How did you know?"  "Battle Fairies can sense these things.  We protect our warrior hosts, and the Old Deku Tree itself from falling in battle, as well as being bad or getting hurt like other guardian fairies.  We need to be more powerful than guardian fairies, because we are needed to do more!"

Tomas asked, "Will Darunia get a battle fairy when he becomes a man?"  Navi answered "No.  We were made for our original hosts at their birth.  And our original hosts were born for us!  To support a battle fairy, a warrior must have a larger and deeper heart than an ordinary Kokiri.  To bond with an ordinary Kokiri would not only kill us, but kill them as well!  We would skip generations, and be passed from father to grandson, spending our time between hosts with the Great Deku Tree.  But we made our warriors more powerful with each generation, and they made us stronger too.  They, and we, forgot that the Kokiri are a people of peace.  If we had continued as we were, the Kokiri would have killed off all the other peoples, without any reason!  So the Great Deku Tree quit making battle fairies!  It took back all of us he had made, whether we had been for attacking the other peoples or not, and replaced us with ordinary guardian fairies.

"I was sad to leave Warlord-Chieftain Ivanhoe, for he was a good warrior, and could have been a good man.  But I saw it had to be done, and I agreed with the Tree.  And, 'good' by the standards of the Old Warriors meant only that they killed everyone outright, where 'bad' Warriors would be mean to the women and children, and kill them slowly!  Many of the other battle fairies starved themselves to death rather than swear allegiance to the Deku Tree alone.  Others of my kind died in battles later on, defending the Forest from attack alongside of, but not bonded to warriors in later years.  By the time Link became an adult, I was the last of our kind.

"I was on the brink of death myself!  The Deku Tree had suffered Ganondorf's curse for five months before he finally called for help.  I was not intended to be Link's guardian fairy.  The tree had hoped to have at least enough energy to make Link a guardian fairy.  I was to guide Link to lift the curse, drawing the least sustenance I could from him, and be done!  Had I succeeded in following the Tree's command, I would have died within hours of when the tree did.   But, being weak and near death, I was clumsy.  I let my tail brush Link's heart, and was instantly pulled in!  We bonded at that moment, and I have been his guardian ever since.

"You kids need to be going back to the orphanage.  The mistress will have missed you by now.  You need to get going."  She rose to the top of the stall.  She said, "Finish up Tomas!  Jonas will want a turn to hold me before you leave."  Tomas finished, got up, and left the stall with Navi right behind him.

Jonas was already waiting, in total awe at being face to face with The Great War Chieftain, who had the _last battle fairy_ as his guardian.  Navi said "Jonas, son of Beow, hold out your hands."  Jonas held out his hands, and Navi dried them.  She sat down on one, and let Jonas stroke her.  She said, "Your father died when the village was overrun.  His shield had been broken by a stalfos he had killed.  _Without a shield, _he held off the attack of a mad scrub, returning its volleys with his sword.  After all the women and children were safe in the Lost Woods, he covered the retreat of all the people, and blocked the advance of the stalfos until Mido and the Helfdanes could regroup the warriors and counterattack.  They found his body surrounded by at least thirty dead stalfos, maybe more.  He saved most if not all the Kokiri at the cost of his life.  Your mother died of grief a day later.  You and Tomas are both good children.  You need to continue being brave for your parents, but _truly_ brave.

"You cry at night, for you miss your parents still.  Yet, you are ashamed the next day.  You shouldn't cry for strangers, or ordinary friends, but don't be ashamed that you cry alone!  Being brave, being a man does _not_ mean that you have no heart!  That would be impossible for a Kokiri, anyhow!  Share your emotions freely with your families, your closest friends, your brothers and sisters.  And let them share _theirs_ with you!  Kokiri are a very modest and private people.  Your fellow Kokiri will give you room to cry alone, if you need do that.  Don't be afraid that you cry when you are sad, though!  The time to be afraid is when you _don't cry.  That is when you are either too numb to feel anything, or your heart is on the brink of falling in on itself, which is what kills your people when you die of grief and mourning!  Be brave by living good lives and being good people, so that should your parents see you from the realm of the dead, they will be proud, and relieved that you turned out well even when fate took them away before they raised you to adulthood."_

Link said "Navi, can you escort these boys back to the orphanage.  Jennifer still needs to tend to necessities, and she'll only need Darunia's fairy for light."  Navi answered "Sure, Link.  Is the orphanage at the same place?"  Link answered "I noticed it when we walked home from the meadow.  Same place, probably always will be, so long as Kokiri with children die young."  Navi said, "Right.  Follow me, boys!"  Navi and the two boys left.

Link then walked a discrete distance away, to chaperone without eavesdropping.  When he did this, Jennifer slapped Darunia!  "What was that for, Jenn?" the boy asked.  "That was for not introducing your father before you did!  I was so embarrassed I could have soiled myself right there!  Imagine, being introduced to your future fa… your friend's father, in a _privy,_ _after you had been pouring your heart out to his son with him hearing every word!"  She started to cry quietly.  "I'm sorry, Jenn!  I was just so happy to see you, on top of Papa being home for the first time in so long, after having almost lost him before my very eyes…"  Now, they were both sobbing.  They hugged, then Jennifer kissed Darunia on the cheek, then the lips.  "I'm sorry I slapped you Darie!  But I was __so mad.  I have to go."  They let go of each other.  "So soon?" Darunia asked.  "No, to _the privy!  _I'm about to burst!"  Darunia opened the stall door for her, and she went into the stall with his guardian fairy.  She started to attend to necessities, but didn't close the door.  "Shouldn't you close the door, Jenn?"  "Yes, Darie.  But we've seen each other __naked before, and besides.  I like the way the moonlight sparkles in your eyes and your hair!"  _

Darunia answered, "I love the moonlight in your hair too, Jenn.  The way the red in your hair matches the red in your face when Papa turns around."  She quickly closed the door without a sound.  "I guess you're not the only forgetful one tonight, Darie!"  "It's been a long day, Jenn!  And we have a long year ahead of us, someday!"  "What do you mean, Darie?"  "I caught that 'future fa…' bit.  I like the sound of it.  But you're only nine months to the day older than me!  If you had been a week older, you would have your own fairy already!  I'll be an adult fourteen months before you!  Or even more, if I'm called an adult early because of the war.  They almost have already.  If we _really_ needed it, we might get you called an adult early, but I wouldn't count on more than three months!  That leaves at least a whole year with me an adult and you still a child!  That will be rough!

"Mama saw us starting to get serious right before she had to leave!  She told me how Papa was my age when they first started getting serious.  She told me that _they_ were right for each other, but were still too young!  She and Papa were one day short of two years different in age.  They were careful, and didn't rush things.  Papa was also shy with his feelings, even with Mama, so that slowed things down even more.  But Mama almost disgraced herself and Papa on her thirteenth birthday!"  As he said this, they could hear two Kokiri having their first coupling, it having been delayed by most of the time the village was overrun.  They were still young enough where doing _that_ was 'icky,' even between life-mates.

"Do you want to be _just_ friends, Darie?" Jennifer asked, choking up as she did.  "_No, Jenn!_  I just want us to do things right!  You're the only girl I think of as being 'like me.'  Everyone else is either a child to be protected, or an adult to be protected and obeyed!  With _them,_ I'm always worried!  With you, we just _are!  It's like being with the warriors in battle, but I can share my feelings with you!  I can cry in front of you without feeling like a coward!  I still feel responsible for you, but it's not a duty like everyone else!  I'm not saying it right, but that's how I feel!"  "I understand, and I feel kind of like that with you.  I'm not ashamed of myself around you.  I don't feel like an orphan.  You love me, but you don't pity me!  Of all our friends, you are the only one!"  She finished, and opened the door.  Darunia took a cloth out of his pocket, wiped her eyes, and kissed her.  He dried his own and put the cloth away._

Link was not as far away as the kids thought.  He didn't let them know it, but he had heard every word.  He was almost ashamed that he did, but he was also glad.  He thought to himself "Fruit doesn't fall too far from the tree, I guess.  He's found himself a good one!  _But they're so young!_  And even knowing it may not slow them down enough!  But he's like his mother in those ways more than me.  And had anyone told _them_ to take it easy, Saria would have told them to stick their busy-body noses up their asses, using those exact words!  She had her father's temper, and didn't mind using it once in a while!  Her father had been banished by the Great Deku Tree for offering it a one-way trip to a Hylean sawmill!  And not even Navi knew how Papa finally got the Tree to let the wizard back in to the Forest, or how he got Sarchan to apologize to the Tree!

"How _could_ she have told _Darunia, their own son about that day in the meadow?  Ok.  _She_ wasn't that embarrassed, she just didn't want Darunia getting in trouble, or hurting Jennifer.  She and I both knew that had I been a _day_ older, she'd have taken me right then, the public be damned!  And my Hylean body would not have obeyed my Kokiri desire to be honorable with my life-mate…  She would have still proposed to me, even if Mido hadn't had her all worked up.  I had her doing that in the back of my mind when I was looking for her…_

"So Navi was _that_ Navi!  No wonder she didn't say before.  She was _by herself_ War Chieftain of the Kokiri for twenty years.  Though most of those years were quiet and peaceful, she still managed to kill five _hundred_ Gerudo horsemen who were attacking the village, with only eighty warriors and forty other battle fairies!  And she was guardian of _Ivanhoe the Bloodthirsty?_  That was two hundred years ago, but the Hyleans _still_ talk in their taverns of the day when he drove them from Hyrule field, and killed ten _thousand Hyleans while he did it!  It's a wonder the Kokiri had __any friends after the era of the Old Warlords._

"Kids, your date is just about over.  It's late, and I have to get to the Temple of Time in the morning.  I just hope that I can get back to Saria in that time.  I wonder what she meant by 'needing me.'  I needed _her then, too.  I need her now!"  He ended his thoughts as Darunia and Jennifer walked toward him.  Navi also returned at just that instant._

"Link, that place was almost a madhouse!  Three of the other orphans were awake when we walked up, and they were _all_ awake seconds after that!  I _really do like kids, but that was almost like going to battle!  'Can I hold her? Can I hold her?  I wanna hold her!'  The mistress almost lost her mind when she found one of her kids gone!  Had she been with __anyone but the Hylean Deku Tree, there would have been death to pay!  She's still a trifle miffed."_

"Well, kids!  It's time to go home!"  Link said.  They waited for Link to lead the way.  He said "After you.  But visit quickly while you walk.  I'll calm the Mistress when we get there."  They walked back to the orphanage, Darunia and Jennifer chatting in each other's minds, Link walking quietly behind them.  When they approached the orphanage, Mistress Belinda was waiting for them.  "Good evening, my lord!  Has his lordship any complaint of the way I care for the children?"  

"Certainly not, Sister Belinda!" Link replied.  "Once I've brought peace to all the realm, and once the Deku Sprout has grown and made fairies for these kids, using the privy should not be such a production.  But they should have asked first.  I happened upon them at the privy.  I'm sorry I didn't send word to you sooner."  He added so only she heard "…but in my day, you slept sounder."  

She replied likewise "In your day, I had fewer orphans, and the only one without a fairy saw better by moonlight than most do with fairies.  I also hadn't just returned to a village occupied by monsters, my lord!"  

Link answered, "I hope no harm was done.  I am grateful for the care you gave me when I was young."  

"Thank you, my lord!  But please, if you find more of my kids wandering about, let me know.  I was about to call for the constable!"

She said to Jennifer "You and your friends aren't in trouble _this time.  But ask next time, before you go to use the privy!  I know the chamber pots are a nuisance.  But we have them to use, when it's after bedtime, so we don't _have_ to be rescued by warriors and War Chieftains!  Off to bed now!  Say goodnight to his lordship and the warrior.  Jennifer said "Good night, my lord!  Good night, Mister Darunia!"  In her mind, she added "Good night, Darrie!  See you tomorrow!"  Link and Darunia both said "Good night, young Jennifer!"  Darunia added "See you tomorrow, Jenn!"_

The two warriors walked back towards their house.  After a moment, Link said, "Your mother would have punched me if I did that!"  

"_What_, Papa?"  

"Not letting Jennifer know I was there."  

"But I…"  

"Forgot I was there!" Link finished.  "I know.  We've both had quite a day!  It was nice to be distracted by pleasanter times.  And you _do need to slow down with Jennifer."  _

"Papa!  You were _listening?"  _

"Yes, son!  I trust you, but I haven't been around as much as I'd like, and I don't _know Jennifer!  I know her better now, and I trust you both.  But even adults make mistakes.  There are some mistakes _no_ good father would let his children make._

"Kokiri women must be two years older than Kokiri men to be called adults for a reason.  A Kokiri girl starts to bleed every month at the age of ten.  From then, until she has her first child, she _will get pregnant the first or second time she couples.  If she is over thirteen, she will probably have her child without trouble.  If she is under thirteen, she will have a good chance of dying in childbirth, and the chances go up the younger she gets!  If you are truly bound to your life-mate, and she dies in childbirth, you will die with her!_

"Different people's hearts grow at different speeds.  Some grow to where they can bond for life before they are called adult, some grow so slowly that they are adults for _years before they can bond.  Girls start growing earlier, but often finish growing in the heart later than boys.  If a girl senses a boy bonding to her, not just desiring her, and she is not bonding with him, she will usually chase him off.  She might end up bonding with him later anyway, but no harm is done.  Most boys, if they sense a girl isn't bonding with them will lose interest, and remain friends before it gets that far.  But sometimes, one __does bond and the other doesn't.  And sometimes, neither one realizes it!  Once they find out, it is __very painful!  Your mother and I both would spare you that._

"Your mother and I _were_ young!  We _were right for each other, and still are…  But we were _lucky!_  We were _both_ orphans, with no family to watch over us!  Our courtship started younger than it should have because we had no one else to call family, and no family to think about except each other!  We hadn't even realized we were courting each other at first.  We had others interested in courting us.  I had one of Mistress Belinda's nieces chasing me.  I didn't notice, but your mother did, and she didn't like it at all!  Your Uncle Mido wanted your mother __desperately!  She _did_ notice him!  Your Uncle Mido wasn't friendly to me until after your mother and I were married, because Saria would always reject him publicly, and humiliate him!"  _

"So _that's_ why he'll never go in our house!  And why he would never have Mama visit alone, or after dark!  But I thought you and Uncle Mido were Sworn Brothers!"  

"We are, Darunia!  But Uncle Mido was five when he swore his oath, and I was an infant!  He thought your mother was promised to him, and was mad that she wanted _me_!

"But as I was saying, we were _lucky_!  We could have just as easily have been _wrong for each other!  Had that happened, __both of our lives would have been messed up badly!  We also almost disgraced ourselves the day before I went into the Deku Tree!  Had we done that, we would have _both_ been banished from the forest, for I was still a child!"_

They were back at home now.  The washing water was cold now, but they didn't notice.  Darunia cleaned himself first.  He then put on clean clothes and got into his bed.  He turned to the wall to give his father privacy.  Link cleaned himself.  He then put on the body cover from his bedroll.  He quickly washed and rinsed his tunic, cap, body cover, and socks, and hung them on the curtain rope to dry.  "It's early summer" he thought.  "This stuff should dry overnight."  

"I haven't missed Mama this evening, Papa.  Is that bad?"  

"No, son.  She's been gone to you for a while.  You'll still miss her, and sometimes, you will hurt so bad you'll cry, but you almost lost _me today, too!  You've been so relieved that I didn't die, and so excited that I was able to stay, that you haven't had _time_ to miss her!  That's not bad, that's normal.  I haven't had time to miss here this evening, either."  _

"Do you miss her now, Papa?"  

"Yes, son.  It scares me how _much I miss her!  But yet, I am off in the morning to see her, where that day is already past for her!"_

Navi said "I gave that counsel earlier not to _those orphans alone!  It was also for an older orphan, and the son of an orphan, who needed it even more!  I've no desire to attend the pyre of an orphaned duke…or his son!"  _

"I'm scared, Papa!  I don't want to forget Mama."  

"We won't, son.  We'll never forget her."  They had lain down in their beds.  The beds were close enough, that Darunia reached his hand out to Link.  It was the sword-callused hand of a mighty warrior, who had fought bravely at the side of his brothers, with distinction.  It was also the hand of a frightened six year old boy, who learned that day he had lost his mother, and almost had his father die in his arms!

Link held the little hand in his, as they drifted off to sleep.  _His_ was the sword-callused and steady hand of the Lone Warrior.  He fought foes that _no army could survive, which could only be felled by __one blade, by only __one steady hand.  But his hand was also that of a father.  A father who had learned his life-mate was lost, but not lost; not there, but there still—for a time.  A father who just realized how much he missed the son he didn't know he had.  A father who was frightened at the __new responsibility he had—and had had for seven years!  He could tell that he had done well, so far and with some help.  But how well _did_ he do?  How did he raise this young boy whose hand he held?  Had he done __well enough?  And how did that child come to be a __warrior, really?  How could he have been so remiss in his attention that his son would despair of having given up most of his childhood, _at the age of six?_  Could he do better?  Could he __dare do better with the fate of the world in the balance?_

Each one comforted the other, steadied the other, and reassured the other.  Father and son dreamt separate dreams that night, of a woman whose love, whose life, whose being would haunt and gladden their hearts for a lifetime.


End file.
